Tractor Supply Backs Away From DEI Initiatives After Boycott

Tractor Supply is backing away from diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, the company announced on June 27 after experiencing a boycott over the measures.

The Tennessee-based company, which sells home and agricultural products, said it is eliminating DEI roles and ending its DEI ambitions.

Tractor Supply is also withdrawing carbon emission goals, ending its sponsorship of festivals promoting gay and transgender communities, and stopping its submission of data to the Human Rights Campaign, which advocates for those communities. The campaign did not respond to a request for comment.

“We work hard to live up to our mission and values every day and represent the values of the communities and customers we serve,” Tractor Supply said in a statement. “We have heard from customers that we have disappointed them. We have taken this feedback to heart.”

Tractor Supply had been making hundreds of thousands of dollars in donations to “DE&I causes,” according to annual reports.

“The foundation of our DE&I strategy is to have a welcoming environment and to ensure the power of diversity, equity and inclusion is experienced every day by our Team Members, customers, communities and suppliers,” the company said in a 2021 sustainability report. It said it had doubled the number of stores where staff members “mirror the communities we serve” and increased spending “with diverse suppliers.”

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Tractor Supply CEO Hal Lawton previously said that DEI was embedded in the company’s culture. “That’s a critical, strategic priority for us,” he said in 2021.

Some of the donations went to groups that run programs for children who believe they’re gay or transgender. Waco Pride, one of the groups, runs a summer camp for middle schoolers that is described as providing the children with “LGBTQ+ inclusive, age-appropriate medically accurate sex education.”

In June, Robby Starbuck, who ran as a Republican in a 2022 congressional race in Tennessee, began publicizing Tractor Supply’s DEI efforts and launched a boycott of the company until it changed its support for the initiatives.

“We have extracted the largest concessions in the history of boycotts,” Mr. Starbuck said in a video after the company ended its efforts. “If you look at this, this is the first Fortune 300 company in our lifetimes to go backwards on … all these woke causes and donations.”

California state Sen. Scott Weiner, a Democrat, suggested that Tractor Supply should not have changed course. “The right wing outrage bully machine strikes again, this time intimidating @TractorSupply into abandoning its LGBTQ employees & its climate goals,” he wrote on the social media platform X.

Tractor Supply, which hauled in $14.6 billion in sales in 2023, has 2,233 stores that are primarily based in rural areas. Tractor Supply describes itself as the largest rural lifestyle retailer in the United States.

The company has for years supported state fairs, farmers’ markets, and veterans.

After the boycott started, the company announced a new program called “Hometown Heroes,” which recognizes military members, first responders, and veterans by providing discounts to them. The company also said it was donating $1 million to 10 organizations that support these groups.

Tractor Supply said Thursday it will further focus on rural American priorities like agricultural education, work to ensure a respectful environment within the company without DEI initiatives, and prioritize land and water conservation efforts over carbon emissions.

“We will continue to listen to our customers and team members,” it said. “Your trust and confidence in us are of the utmost importance, and we don’t take that lightly.”