Dan Kuebler is out on a hot August morning on what used to be his farm.
Kuebler grew fruits and vegetables on 30 acres in Ashland, Missouri, and for decades he sold his produce at the Columbia Farmers Market.
“Ashland was a little, bitty, sleepy town in '77 when we bought it,” Kuebler said.
Then, small towns in southern Boone County started becoming homes to those working in nearby Columbia or Jefferson City. Kuebler watched farmland on his 2-mile dead end road get sold and broken up into parcels. As he neared retirement, he needed to come up with a plan for the future of his farmland.
“I don't want it split up into five acre plots … and become a development. That is just like — that's sacrilege,” he said.
Kuebler began farming at the age of 40. For the next 33 years, he grew dozens of varieties of vegetables and eventually branched out into making fermented foods such as sauerkraut, pickles and kimchi. He balanced managing the farm along with his other job as an in-home physical therapist.
Kuebler is passionate about local farmers providing food for their community. He was an active seller at the farmers market and advocated for the permanent shelter that now houses the market on the west side of Columbia.
As new development encroached on his neighborhood, Kuebler wanted to protect his farm from being broken up.
“I don't want to sell it to the highest bidder. I want it to stay in farmland. So how should I do that?” he said.
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