‘ON TOP OF THE WORLD’

To say she was a bit surprised may be the understatement of the year for Alma Kubat of rural Owatonna.

In fact, she was so surprised that the 83-year-old Steele County farmer needed to sit down to collect herself. And in doing so she was suddenly swarmed with people all around her.

Kubat was honored at Farmfest last Thursday as the Woman Farmer of the Year. She beat out four other women, all much younger than her, for the honor given out at the premier Minnesota farm show.

“This is one of the highlights of my life,” said Kubat. “I feel on top of the world right now to achieve this.”

Even several days after being named the top farmer, Kubat said she was trying to wrap her head around it all as it was still sinking in.

“I feel very privileged and happy to think about,” she said, adding she never expected to win the recognition.

Kubat was born in 1940 and raised on her parent’s farm in Deerfield Township. As a teenager, her parents were forced because of dad’s failing health to sell their family farm and move to town. She deeply missed farm life and longed to one day turn to that lifestyle.

In 1961, she married Richard Kubat. She quit her full-time job as a telephone operator and returned to farm life—something she hasn’t let up on to this day.

After her husband died in 1994, Kubat continued running the farm operation. She milked cows until she was almost 70 years old. She is active with the crop farm by assisting her sons, Brad and Brent.

She is the last original farm wife who runs her own farm in the immediate area south of Owatonna. In submitting the nomination, Kubat’s son, Brad, commented: “She has long been known as the hardest working farm wife in the county and has the hands to prove it.”

Kubat joins Brad, who is a DJ and farm broadcaster, on KRUE Country Radio every Thursday morning by providing a weekly weather summary. 

“Mom is the hardest working and most devoted person I’ve ever met or known and will ever know,” said Brad. “Mom was born to be a farmer. She lives, breaths and will die a farmer. She is a great steward of the land, and her faith in God runs deep.”

Kubat’s farm life hasn’t come without difficulties. In 1979, the family’s farm house was destroyed by fire. The children know today that they wouldn’t be around if their mother hadn’t gotten them out of the burning house while they slept.

There was also the farm crisis of the 1980s. For Kubat, there was the heavy burden of paying on a very high-interest loan to build a new house to get the family out of the garage they were living in without running water or plumbing.

“I remember bankers coming to the farm if a payment was late,” Brad recalled. “Their answer was always to sell the land to satisfy the loan. Mom held strong and one time in tears said to the banker, ‘Over my dead body.’”

Alma Kubat credits her faith in God and the help she has received from her family for pulling them through the dark times.

“I did what I thought was the right thing to do,” Kubat said. “You dive into it and conquer and strive for the best thing to do. With the help of my family, we kept going on,” she added.

Kubat was excited to have two daughters, Joyce and Jean Ciffra of Owatonna, of a livestock hauler used on the farm over the years come to last week’s celebration.

“They came to give me support without even knowing I would win,” Kubat said. “I thought it was so special, just priceless.”

At last week’s recognition, Kubat met two women who had won the honor in previous years. Kubat plans to attend next year’s Farmfest to greet the new winner.

“It gave me a lot of confidence,” Kubat says of winning the award. “It’s all worth it—all the hard work I’ve done over the years.”