Just a few degrees left of Montana’s center sits Meagher County. Martinsdale-based farmer and mother Shauna Eagleton lives here, but spends a lot of time on the road.
"We start and stop our day in Martinsdale," Eagleton says. "Our first day goes through Bozeman, Big Timber, and then back up. So we kind of do a big circle through here. And then our second day comes through Harlowton and up to Lewistown."
She and her small team pick up local orders of produce, meat and dairy, and drop them off with customers far and wide who otherwise lack access to local, high quality foods.
"Why don't the grocery stores have fresh food? Okay, well they're the end of the line. They're really at the whim of what is available to them, and it's not their fault that it's not fresh," she says.
It’s a 500-mile route Eagleton drives weekly for part of the year.
While Meagher County has the goods, it lacks distribution systems and other services that help businesses function.
"To be a profitable farm, you really do have to grow enough and sell enough," Eagleton says. " And to make that work, you need a distribution network – and we don't have one."
In response, Eagleton scaled-up to run Delphine Farms and the Central Montana Food Hub. The hub functions as an aggregator and online marketplace for local food products. It also offers distribution services to other farms and ranches in the area.
And they’re growing – the hub will soon have a high-tech food storage facility located in Harlowton.
A study from the University of Montana’s REAL Co-Lab identified strong themes in Meagher County that make growth like this possible. Local entrepreneurship thrives, but so does education, volunteerism and community engagement. The study highlights 77% of local businesses are women-owned.
Eagleton says she hopes businesses like hers help build out the systems Meagher County needs to be successful, and to support a locally based economy.
"Just try and remind myself and my community then, I guess, what is the work? Can we look back in 10 years and see positive change?"
