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Tractor Supply Co. Cuts DEI Roles and Goals After Conservative Criticism
Tractor Supply Company, the largest rural lifestyle retailer in the U.S., has announced significant changes to its corporate policies in response to conservative backlash. The Brentwood, Tennessee-based company will eliminate its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) roles, withdraw its carbon emissions goals, and cease sponsoring Pride events.
The company shared these sweeping changes in a statement on social media, marking the end of a weeks-long pressure campaign from right-wing activists. “We work hard to live up to our Mission and Values every day and represent the values of the communities and customers we serve,” the statement read. “We have heard from customers that we have disappointed them. We have taken this feedback to heart.”
Tractor Supply, which operates over 2,200 stores across 49 states, primarily serves farmers, horse owners, ranchers, tradesmen, and suburban and rural homeowners. Despite being nationally recognized as an inclusive and diverse workplace, the company recently became the target of conservative ire for its DEI initiatives.
Robby Starbuck, a music video director and Republican who ran unsuccessfully for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District in 2022, spearheaded the campaign against Tractor Supply on social media platform X (formerly Twitter). On June 6, he called for conservatives to “expose Tractor Supply,” criticizing its DEI hiring practices, in-office Pride Month decorations, climate change activism, and other policies.
“I take no pleasure in bringing this all to light,” Starbuck wrote. “I’m a Tennessean who loves to support TN companies but as a proud Tennessean I know these woke priorities don’t align with our state or @TractorSupply’s customer base.” He urged others to “respectfully” flood Tractor Supply’s corporate offices with calls and emails expressing their disapproval and to start buying products from other stores if possible.
The campaign appears to have had an impact, with the Financial Times reporting a 5% drop in the Nasdaq-listed company’s share price over the past month. Tractor Supply reversed course before the end of June, stating, “Going forward, we will ensure our activities and giving tie directly to our business.”
Changes and Reactions
The changes include no longer submitting data to the Human Rights Campaign (an LGBTQ advocacy group), withdrawing its carbon emissions goals to focus on land and water conservation efforts, eliminating its DEI roles, and retiring its current DEI goals while still ensuring a respectful environment. The company also said it would stop sponsoring “nonbusiness activities” like Pride festivals and voting campaigns, instead focusing on “rural America priorities” such as education, animal welfare, and veteran causes.
The statement on X has garnered over 71,000 likes and 12,000 comments, many from conservative users applauding the decision. “We will get rid of DEI one company at a time,” wrote the right-wing account Libs of TikTok.
Starbuck praised the outcome as a “massive victory for sanity,” stating in an eight-minute video that this is the “first Fortune 300 company in our lifetimes to go backwards on ESG, DEI and all these woke causes and donations, in record speed.”
However, not everyone is pleased. Many users expressed their disappointment, vowing not to shop at Tractor Supply anymore and calling on others to do the same. Tennessee state Sen. Charlane Oliver, a Democrat, was particularly disappointed that the company chose to take this stance during Pride Month and Juneteenth.
Groups including the Human Rights Campaign, GLAAD, and the National Black Farmers Association quickly denounced Tractor Supply’s move. “Tractor Supply’s embarrassing capitulation to the petty whims of anti-LGBTQ extremists puts the company out of touch with the vast majority of Americans who support their LGBTQ friends, family, and neighbors,” GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis told The Advocate. “It sends an appalling message, during Pride month, to see a rural staple go out of their way to bring harm to their LGBTQ customers and employees.”
A spokesperson for Tractor Supply declined to comment beyond their statement.
Why DEI Matters
Shaun Harper, a professor of business at the University of Southern California, noted that because Tractor Supply stores are primarily located in rural communities, “the case-making for DEI should’ve been differently framed and better customized for those cultural contexts.” Harper explained that activities like Pride parades often face opposition in rural communities, leading to misunderstandings about DEI initiatives.
Frank Dobbin, a Harvard sociology professor who has studied corporate diversity programs for decades, said the end of DEI programs hurts business in two ways. “The most important role of DEI programs is that they promise to democratize access to good jobs in the U.S.,” he explained. “Part of it is just, what kind of a society do we want to be? We want to be a society where anyone can succeed — that’s certainly the principle we were founded on.”
Dobbin added that practices promoting diversity, such as recruiting from HBCUs, implementing mentorship programs, and offering management training, are also “just good management” from a business perspective, especially in a tight labor market. He believes it’s a mistake for companies to roll back low-cost efforts aimed at equalizing opportunities for underrepresented groups and to signal publicly that members of those groups aren’t welcome in their workplace.
“I don’t think it’s inconsequential when a place like Tractor Supply publicly announces that it’s not going to pursue the programs anymore,” Dobbin said. “I think it’s not good news that companies are so publicly rejecting their own commitments to try to do better.”
Broader Trend
The Tractor Supply saga is part of a broader trend of corporate DEI initiatives facing backlash. The 2020 police murder of George Floyd and subsequent protests against racial injustice fueled calls for companies to do more to hire, retain, and promote workers from minority groups. This led to a surge in hiring chief diversity officers and other DEI positions, followed by backlash from conservative critics.
“As often happens, there was a counter movement against it,” Dobbin said. “And the conservative activists have been very successful in raising money and in funding think tanks, where the people who come after companies are often located.”
Boycotts have had high-profile successes in recent years, from Target scaling back on its LGBTQ+ merchandise this Pride Month to Bud Light’s parent company putting executives on leave after a partnership with a transgender influencer sparked controversy. Dobbin noted that many companies are quietly altering their diversity programs, contrasting with Tractor Supply’s public announcement.
Despite the current backlash, Dobbin doesn’t believe this marks the end of progress on promoting diversity in the workforce. “We had a moment where the pendulum swung in one direction,” he said. “It swung back in another direction. Usually we end up somewhere between those two poles.”
Tractor Supply Company, founded in 1938, is an American retail chain that sells products for home improvement, agriculture, lawn and garden maintenance, livestock, equine and pet care. The company has over 2,000 stores and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee. It is publicly traded on the NASDAQ under the ticker symbol TSCO and is a Fortune 500 company.
Source: NPR, The Advocate, Financial Times
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