WASECA — Nearly 100 years. Fourth generation. A giver.
That best describes Tyler Huber, who with his wife Stephanie and four young kids recently took home the honor of Waseca County Farm Family of the Year.
As of 2028, his family will have farmed two miles south of Waseca for 100 years. His great-grandfather started the farm, making Huber the fourth generation to work the land. And people who know him define him as someone who will always pitch in.
“He’s willing to help lend a hand to whomever,” said Jamie Beckstrand, vice chair of the Waseca County Extension Committee, which through University of Minnesota Extension awarded the Huber family the Waseca County Farm Family of the Year honor in March.
“Tyler is always there,” she said. “And his wife and kids are involved on the farm, whether it’s cooking meals or riding on the tractor with him. He’s always talking about doing farm activities as a whole family so that’s probably part of the reason they won Farm Family of the Year.”
Huber said he was surprised and honored to win the award.
“We’re just trying to do the right thing out here on the farm and in the community,” he said. “It’s pretty neat to be selected.” Huber’s family lives in the farm house he grew up in with his parents, brothers and sister. He fondly recalls working on the farm in his youth, bottle feeding calves and doing other chores.
Today, he raises corn and soy beans and finishes beef steers on 320 acres. There’s obviously more technology at work than there was when he was a boy on the Huber farm.
“Everything is updated, for ease of labor,” Huber said. “Equipment is updated and how we feed cattle is updated. It’s not as labor intensive as it used to be. We’re more efficient.”
Those updates allow him to produce higher-yielding crops, he said, and the alterations in feeding their cattle result in saved time and a safer operation.
Huber also owns and operates seed dealer Corn Country Seed Co. LLC. and there represents Beck’s Hybrids. He’s involved in the community as well, which caught the eye of the committee that designated his family as Farm Family of the Year.
According to Beckstrand, a family selected as Waseca County Farm Family of the Year is a county producer involved in the community who makes significant short-term progress or innovative contributions with their agricultural endeavors. They must also demonstrate commitment and enhance and support the fields of agriculture and production.
Huber started farming in 2019 and has served 13 years on the Waseca County Fair Board. Beckstrand said his service demonstrates his deep commitment to promoting and strengthening the local agriculture community.
“Just knowing Tyler personally, when you talk to him you do see the joy and passion for agriculture that he has,” she said. “He raises beef cattle and has his own crops and has the seed business. He is well known in the community with his seed business and seed sales.”
Huber said he finds reward in his work as a farmer.
“It’s the faith that one puts into the unknown,” he said. “There are so many variables that can change throughout the year. There’s a thrill that goes along with planting a seed and hoping for the best that there’s something there to harvest. It’s fun to watch things grow, whether that’s cattle or crops. And being outdoors is, I think, the best part.”