The National Black Farmers Association called on Tractor Supply’s president and CEO Tuesday to step down after the rural retailer announced that it would drop most of its corporate diversity and climate advocacy efforts.
The resignation demand emerged as Tractor Supply, which sells products ranging from farming equipment to pet supplies, faces a deepening backlash over its decision, which itself came after conservative activists spoke out against the company’s work to be more socially inclusive and to curb climate change.
In a public announcement last week, the company said it would eliminate all of its diversity, equity and inclusion roles, end sponsorships of “nonbusiness activities” like Pride festivals, and withdraw its goals for reducing carbon emissions. Critics of the new position argue that Tractor Supply is giving in to hate and harming its customers by abandoning crucial principles.
They could have just as easily dropped the DEI efforts and then not made a giant fucking Press Release about it.
You can decide this move with two answers: Who are their customers, and what happened last year with Bud Light.
Just so y’all are aware they moved to Yuengling beer as the choice of racists and bigoted people. So please don’t buy it unless you really really don’t give a fuck about CEOs mocking boycotts.
Phew. I was afraid they’d move to Sam Adams or something since they fetishize the Founders so much, and I’d have to give up something I actually like.
I was in Texas for my first time ever and had my first ever Yeungling (it isn’t available where I live). I didn’t know it was now the choice for the bigots. But I do know: it’s really not a great beer.
Neither is Bud (/Light), but at least that doesn’t taste like a malty homebrew.
Lmao, people asking that gets me every time. Wild name that I don’t know why they named it that, but it’s actually America’s oldest brewery, it’s on the east coast.
It’s so easy to shop somewhere else, might as well.
In many rural areas it’s not though. Tractor Supply might be the only feed store for miles, and I don’t mean go 5 miles to the next town. I mean it’s over a hundred to the next closest feed store, which happens to be another tractor supply.
Cool. Who plans to do that? Do you have the ability to open multiple stores in such areas?
Is that your situation? I live pretty rural, but there’s a Walmart, Lowe’s, or home depot pretty much the same distance as tractor supply, and that’s probably the situation for most of the US. I also buy online. Mom and pop feed stores are all over the place.
For me, it’s real easy to go somewhere else.
Good. Fuck DEI
Most of the programs exist to avoid lawsuits. They don’t actually help much of anything. And before people jump down my throat I’m not against the idea of what DEI claims to fix in corporate America. I just know from the level I’ve worked at multiple companies that leadership doesn’t really care. DEI is another box to check for the shareholders to feel good about themselves.
So tl;dr DEI is mostly pointless. Leadership allows people to talk about DEI because talk is cheap and ineffectual. But they shit their pants of we try to unionize and force change. So stop focusing on DEI and start focusing on unionization.
I just know from the level I’ve worked at multiple companies that leadership doesn’t really care. DEI is another box to check for the shareholders to feel good about themselves.
I’m confused, are you saying places with DEI policies don’t actually hire more black or gay employees and just pretend like they do, or that they do hire more diverse employees but the management don’t really care about that and are just hiring more diverse employees because they think that protects them from lawsuits?
Based on their post history, they’re American too. So if you have any chickens, I’d keep them locked up.
