SALTCOATS — Joe and Caroline Armbruster were named the final winners of the spring season for GX94’s popular Supper in the Field promotion. The local radio tradition capped off its seasonal run by surprising the farming family right in their yard with a catered meal and a heavy haul of prizes.
The Armbrusters have been a fixture of the local agricultural community for nearly five decades. Joe and Caroline married in 1978 and jumped straight into full-time farming the following year in 1979. What began as a small family project has grown substantially over the last 47 years. Today, Joe operates the farm as a 50-50 partnership with his son, Joel, alongside vital seasonal help from his two daughters and their husbands during the busy fall harvest.
The family runs a grain operation, aiming for an ambitious 11,000 seeded acres this year. Due to difficult early-season weather windows, they lost a portion of their land to unco-operative conditions, ultimately wrapping up seeding at 9,200 acres.
The fields are heavily dedicated to canola and wheat. The family had originally planned to add soybeans to the rotation, but the seeding window closed too late to get them in the ground.
The bulk of their harvested canola and wheat goes directly to Richardson Pioneer, with occasional oat deliveries sent out to Grain Millers.
While the family previously ran a large cattle and horse feedlot, they moved strictly into grain farming after local PMU contracts for collecting pregnant mare urine ended. Today, their livestock footprint is down to five horses, a few chickens and three cattle humorously nicknamed "lunch."
The nomination came as a complete shock to Joe, who was caught entirely off guard when the radio station called his phone in the morning. At the time of the call, Joe was prepping his equipment for a heavy day of crop spraying. High winds ultimately pushed the spraying schedule back a day, making perfect room for the delivery van.
For Caroline, the prize pack brought immediate relief to the kitchen. Feeding a massive multi-generational farm crew every day takes a toll, and having a fully catered meal delivered directly to the yard was described as "awesome" and the perfect reward to cap off a demanding spring season. With seeding officially behind them, the Armbrusters are shifting their focus to crop management, hoping for a nice balance of rain and heat to set up a heavy harvest this fall.
The annual radio event is made possible through a core network of local businesses.
As the spring edition of Supper in the Field comes to a close, the program continues to highlight the hard work and resilience of local producers who keep the region's agricultural heartbeat going strong.
GX94 extends a massive thank-you to all the farming families who hosted the crew this season, as well as the local sponsors who make it all possible. Keep an eye out for the return of the contest when the tractors hit the dirt again for the fall harvest edition later this year.
