NEW YORK — Tractor Supply Company has eliminated its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives as part of what the retail chain says is a push to distance itself from “nonbusiness activities” after conservative backlash from some of its customer base.
In a news release Thursday, Tractor Supply, which advertises itself as the country’s “largest rural lifestyle retailer,” said it will stop sponsoring activities like “pride festivals and voting campaigns” and would be cutting DEI roles and “retire (its) current DEI goals while still ensuring a respectful environment.”
“We have heard from customers that we have disappointed them,” the company said. “We have taken this feedback to heart.”
The about-face comes less than a month after right-wing commentator Robby Starbuck attacked the company’s LGBTQ-inclusive stance and DEI hiring initiatives in a series of posts on X. Starbuck, who in 2022 launched a failed bid for Tennessee’s 5th Congressional District, called on customers to boycott Tractor Supply and contact its corporate leadership.
After the policy pivot was announced, Starbuck took to X again, calling the move a “massive victory” and “the single biggest boycott win of our lifetime.”
Shaun Harper, a professor of business, public policy and education at the University of Southern California, said one reason for the conservative backlash was the fact Tractor Supply failed to tailor its DEI policy to the culture in which it operates.
The Brentwood, Tennessee-based company, which bills itself as the largest supporter of the National FFA Organization, a non-profit supporting agricultural education, has deep ties to rural communities across 49 states. Harper says Tractor Supply’s inclusion policies should have been attuned to that specific cultural context.
“You can’t say you’re going to try to do at Tractor Supply what they do at the Apple headquarters in Cupertino, California — that’s definitely not going to work,” he said. “It’s what I call ‘situated DEI.’ I would say start with an emphasis on expanding opportunities for low income people, expanding access to farming for women in rural contexts, and helping people understand how more women and more people of color in the farming industry benefits everyone. And helping them understand that the diversification of the farming industry, with women and people of color doesn’t necessarily have to entail a reduction and opportunities for White male farmers.”
Still, activists and experts say Tractor Supply’s backtrack is a blow against civil rights and LGBTQ+ protections for employees and customers.
“Homophobia, transphobia, sexism, gender discrimination, workplace sexual harassment, ableism, size-ism and racism are not going to eliminate themselves,” said Harper. “In the absence of good policy and programs within companies, the danger is that those long-standing problems are going to become exacerbated. There’s going to be more conflict between and among employees, and customers who represent various diverse groups.”
Tractor Supply also said it would “no longer submit data to the Human Rights Campaign,” one of the biggest LGBTQ+ non-profit advocacy groups in the United States.
It was one of more than 1,300 businesses to participate in the HRC’s Corporate Equality Index, a benchmarking survey and report measuring policies and practices relating to LGBTQ+ workplace equality. In 2023, the company earned a near-perfect score of 95/100 for instating workplace protections and benefits taking LGBTQ+ employees into account, providing inclusivity training to workers, and performing outreach to the LGBTQ+ community.
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