Photo by Ruth Klossner The newest Service to Agriculture recipients, Mary and Tim Waibel, center, learned that they were the 2022 recipients when previous recipients visited them Wednesday, December 1. Pictured, from left are Randy Schroeder, Don Sanderson, Michele Schroeder and her son Alex Schroeder. Not pictured: Ruth Klossner.

NEW ULM — Tim and Mary Waibel were expecting neighbor Alex Schroeder to stop in to interview them for a paper he was writing for school Wednesday evening. While Alex did arrive at the scheduled time, he was accompanied by four members of the New Ulm Farm City Hub Club. And, while the Waibels were interviewed, it was not by Alex, but by the Hub Club secretary.

The group arranged the visit to announce to the Waibels that they are the Hub Club’s 2022 Service to Agriculture Award recipients. They will be honored at the club’s January 24 banquet at the New Ulm Community Center.

The Service to Agriculture Award recognizes a person or persons who go above and beyond to serve the club and agriculture in general.

Tim and Mary have been members of the Hub Club since the mid-1990s and followed both sets of parents — Teddy and Helen Waibel and Robert and Alice Forst — into the club. It didn’t take the rural Courtland couple long to get involved with the club’s activities.

When the March 1998 tornado devastated the area, the Waibels joined the Hub Club’s organized effort to clean up area farms that suffered heavy damage from the storm.

“We knew a lot of people that were affected and wanted to help,” Mary said.

One thing led to another and the next year, Tim stepped in to the club president’s role when the elected president had to step back because of work changes. Waibel and 1998 president Diana Schaefer each took six months of the 1999 term, then Waibel continued as president for the year 2000. Tim went on to co-chair the club’s biggest event of the year, the Farm Show, in 2013.

“Being Hub Club president was the first leadership position that I ever held,” Tim saidd.

It certainly wasn’t his last as he’s “moved up the ladder” with various organizations. After the Hub Club presidency, Tim was on boards of the Nicollet County Pork Producers, Farmers Cooperative of Hanska, and Minnesota Pork Producers.

He now leads the 20,000 member Minnesota Corn Growers as chairman of the board, after being president last year. He’s also chair of the government relations committee for the state Corn Growers and is one of four corn growers in the U.S. on the nominating committee for the National Corn Growers Board.

“If somebody would have asked me if I’d be president of a group with 20,000 members back then, I would have said ‘no way,'” he recalled.

He continued, “I really like being on boards like this. You meet so many people and everyone has a story to tell. If you can tell that story yourself, it resonates better.”

To tell that story, the Waibels have hosted many politicians and trade delegations, including some from China and Japan.

Mary recalls a couple from Japan that visited when she was in the combine one fall. The husband and interpreter rode in the combine with her, but the wife — who wore slippers with real diamonds on them — stayed behind.

“It turned out that she was the CEO of one of the largest fertilizer companies in the world,” Mary said. “We’ve met a lot of unique people.”

To which Tim added, “Too bad that COVID put an end to that.”

The Waibels had been interviewed by the New York Times and have been on the front page of the Minneapolis Star and Tribune. While they try to be careful to represent agriculture in the best possible image, not everybody understands production agriculture and don’t realize that much of it is family farms.

The Waibel farm is definitely that — a family farm — with sons Justin Rewitzer and Jonathan Rewitzer farming full time with Tim and Mary for the almost 20 years. Together they farm 2,200 acres of owned and rented land, do some custom farming for others, and custom raise about 25,000 hogs, weaning to finish, annually for Wakefield Pork. They’ve raised hogs since 1994.

Mary and the boys are in charge of the barns, with Mary usually handling the nursery pigs.

“I’m in the barns every day of the year, except for maybe a week,” Mary said. “I treat those pigs like they’re my own.”

Mary is also active in the field–doing all the planting and combining until Justin started to take it over. She now runs the grain cart — and she drives semi.

With a laugh, Tim said, “Somebody has to stay home and do the work when I’m out for my meetings.”

Mary is also a member and past president of the Prairie Piecemakers Quilt Guild and served on the Blue Earth-Nicollet County FSA board. She’s very involved in church and played organ for many years at St. George, St. Mary’s, and New Ulm Cathedral Catholic churches. She also has a big garden, big flower garden, and does a lot of canning–much of which she gives away.

The Waibels have five children. Sons Justin Rewitzer and Jonathan Rewitzer and wife Katie and their three kids all live in Courtland. Daughter Rebecca and husband Anthony Mathiowetz and daughter live in Hanska, daughter Anna and husband Derek MacHolda and three kids live in Morgan, and daughter Clarissa and husband Teil Glaus and three kids live in Chamberlain, South Dakota.

Mary and Tim are honored to be chosen for the Hub Club award.

“The Hub Club is looked at as a great organization. It’s been around a long time,” Tim said. “I looked up to a lot of the members over the years. I had Frank Stuckey as a teacher. He was a role model and very instrumental in the Hub Club.”

Mary added, “I remember when the club was formed. My mom and dad were in it back then — it was a big deal.”

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The Hub Club’s annual meeting and banquet Jan. 24 will begin with a social hour at 6:30 p.m., with dinner at 7 p.m. A short business meeting and the program will follow. The event is open to all. Tickets will be available later in December.

Since its founding in 1974, the New Ulm Farm City Hub Club has continued to follow its original purpose, that of promoting agriculture and agri-business in the New Ulm area through various activities, events, and promotions. Membership is open to all; annual membership (single or couple) is $25. For more information on membership, check the club’s Facebook page.