HARLOWTON - By now you’re familiar with the phrase “eat local,” but that’s easier said than done.
In the 1950s, 70 percent of all food eaten in our state was grown in Montana. Today just 3 percent of the food consumed here is actually home-grown.
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Rural Montana is the lifeblood of our state. Communities in the Treasure State are built upon relationships, where neighbors pitch in to help neighbors.
The town of Harlowton is a good example.
On Feb. 12, 2023, a fire destroyed the historic Graves Hotel in Harlowton. The 115-year-old community landmark was reduced to rubble in a matter of minutes.
Related: Historic Harlowton hotel destroyed by fire
Jeff Eagleton was one of the many community members who could only watch as it happened.
“It was just the saddest day ever. The building was historic. Everybody had a story. Everybody’s family came here. Everybody’s family worked here,” he said. “I got the call that morning that it was on fire. I drove over 100 miles an hour the 30 miles to get there to help out and stood in the street and cried with the rest of the community.”
Fast forward two years, and the lot where the Graves Hotel once stood is about to sprout new life.
Eagleton and his wife, Shauna Eagleton, are now trying to restore the plot of land to its former glory, albeit in a new, reimagined way.
“The concept is nothing new. That was grandma’s idea,” Shauna Eagleton explains.
That concept is this: a massive community center that will be known as the Central Montana Food Hub, essentially a one-stop shop for local agriculture producers to sell their products, from vegetables and grains to meats and potatoes.
“A food hub is a local aggregator. We help those producers get those products to the shelves,” explained Shauna.
Some of those products will be sold directly to consumers, others will go to local grocery stores and restaurants. The Eagletons hope the hub will boost the local economy and get fresh produce into the mouths of Montanans who live in what has long been considered a food desert.
“Let’s create that access. Let’s create that market,” said Jeff.
“If you’re not on an interstate, you’re probably not being fed fresh, quality foods,” added Shauna. “The Western Montana Growers Cooperative, they’re the beacon. They’re the one saying it’s possible.”
The Western Montana Growers Cooperative, based in Missoula, is an established food hub now working to create a network of farmer-owned food co-ops across Montana.
“To develop a really full-fledged food system, it can’t be just one farm. It can’t just be one food hub,” explained Dave Prather, the general manager of the Western Montana Growers Cooperative.
Prather and others cite the startling statistics that show the decrease in consumption of Montana-produced food in the state from 70 percent in the 1950s to 3 percent today.
“It’s a really vulnerable, precarious place to be. That means we’re importing 97 percent of the food that we eat as a state,” said Erin Austin, the director of Community Partners at Abundant Montana, which is the marketing force behind an effort to reverse those numbers.
“Food hubs are critical to that,” said Austin.
The nonprofit has set a goal of ensuring that a third of all food eaten in Montana is grown locally by the year 2033. Austin knows that is an ambitious mark, but she believes it is possible.
“It requires all of us to participate,” she said.
Austin and others say food hubs like the one rising from the ashes of the Graves Hotel in Harlowton are key to making that happen, connecting Montanans with meals one leaf of lettuce, one grain of wheat, and one ounce of beef at a time.
“I’m hoping it’s just duplicated. Once we do it, this needs to happen in Circle. This needs to happen in Havre. This needs to happen in other communities, and then we can start connecting those. I know 100 percent in my heart this is necessary and going to succeed,” said Shauna Eagleton.
