Black Farmers Group Calls for Tractor Supply CEO to Resign

NEW YORK (AP) — The National Black Farmers Association on Tuesday called on the president and CEO of Tractor Supply to step down after the agricultural retailer announced it was abandoning most of its corporate diversity and climate protection efforts.

The resignation request comes as Tractor Supply, a retailer of farm equipment and animal supplies, faces growing criticism for its decision, which comes after conservative activists expressed opposition to the corporate’s efforts to be more inclusive and combat climate change.

In a public announcement last week, the corporate said it might eliminate all of its diversity, equity and inclusion roles, end its sponsorship of “non-business activities” like Pride festivals, and withdraw its carbon reduction goals. Critics of the brand new stance say Tractor Supply is pandering to hate and hurting its customers by abandoning key principles.

“I was horrified by the decision,” John Boyd Jr., president and founding father of the National Black Farmers Association, said in an interview. “I see it as a step back in race relations — because the country is so divided along racial lines, especially in rural America.”

Tractor Supply representatives contacted Tuesday declined further comment.

Tractor Supply, headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee, operates greater than 2,200 stores within the United States, most of that are positioned in rural areas. Its primary retail customer base consists of shoppers needing agricultural and livestock products, corresponding to livestock feed, trucking supplies, tools and outdoor equipment.

Boyd said Tractor Supply stores will be found where many of the NBFA’s 130,000 members are positioned. Like other farmers, he said black farmers have been shopping on the chain for years. Boyd, who can also be a shareholder in Tractor Supply, estimated he has personally spent greater than $10,000 at his local store since January — buying supplies like fencing wire and feed for cattle and horses in Virginia.

Ahead of the corporate’s announcement, conservative activists opposed to its DEI efforts, LGBTQ+ sponsorships and climate motion spent weeks criticizing Tractor Supply on social media. Tractor Supply said in an announcement Thursday that it was making the changes after listening to dissatisfied customers and “took that feedback to heart.”

The move marked a big shift in Tractor Supply’s message, which once boasted about its diversity and inclusion efforts. In recent years, the corporate has sought to broaden its appeal to younger consumers — including former urbanites who now risk being alienated.

“We will continue to listen to our customers and team members. Your trust and confidence in us is paramount, and we do not take that lightly,” the corporate said.

The NBFA said it attempted to discuss its concerns with Tractor Supply President and CEO Hal Lawton multiple times before calling for his resignation.

“He’s gone too far — and we need to let him know that we’re not going to sit back and put up with this mess any longer,” Boyd said, adding that the organization may consider calling for a boycott of Tractor Supply if nothing changes in the approaching days. “We’re tired of (being) treated badly by the government and Fortune 500 companies. … Black farmers are going to fight back. And that’s what we’re doing.”

Some customers have already decided to take their business elsewhere, including Squirrelwood Equine Sanctuary, a New York animal shelter that claims it spends greater than $65,000 a 12 months on livestock feed and other supplies at Tractor Supply.

Squirrelwood co-founder Beth Hyman said she first heard in regards to the company’s decision when sanctuary supporters contacted her to ask if the group planned to issue an announcement on the matter. She thought of it for a day, then went to an area store to ask the manager she’s worked with for years in regards to the announcement.

Hyman, who’s gay, said she told the manager that the sanctuary could now not support Tractor Supply if its ad reflected his beliefs. The sanctuary also posted its stance on X, where the post received 31,000 likes.

“It’s incomprehensible to me that a company would give in to a hate campaign,” Hyman said. “Now they just have another boycott. We didn’t call for that, but obviously people did.”

Allen Adamson, co-founder of consulting firm Metaforce, said the conservative push for Tractor Supply and the fallout from its concessions are “a perfect example of how the growing division in the country — political and ideological — is really making it harder to run a customer-centric business.”

“No matter which option you choose, you will upset a large group of customers,” he said.

Consumers from all walks of life are increasingly susceptible to the influence of social media and are selecting to redirect their spending in the event that they feel firms don’t share their values, Adamson said. For Tractor Supply, which operates in rural communities, anti-DEI activism has put the retailer in a “really tough” position where it needs to do something to stem a possible exodus, he said.

“No company wants to be the target of negativity on social media,” Adamson said. “It’s a no-win situation.”

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Tractor Supply’s reversal comes after boycott campaigns last 12 months against Bud Light and Target over their LGBTQ+ marketing. Target decided not to sell Pride Month merchandise in all of its stores in June after last 12 months’s backlash.

Legal attacks on corporate diversity and inclusion efforts have also gained increased attention following the Supreme Court’s 2023 ruling to end affirmative motion in college admissions, and plenty of conservative and anti-DEI activists are searching for to set the same precedent on the earth of labor.

Several other Tractor Supply organizations and patrons also expressed disappointment or outrage over the corporate’s recent announcement, which included plans to stop sharing data with the Human Rights Campaign, the biggest LGBTQ+ rights group within the U.S.

Eric Bloem, vice chairman of programs and company advocacy on the Human Rights Campaign, said in an announcement last week that Tractor Supply is “turning its back on its neighbors with this shortsighted decision.” The organization has worked with Tractor Supply to create inclusive policies and practices for years, he added.

But Boyd of the National Black Farmers Association said that despite years of efforts by the NBFA, Tractor Supply has not consulted with the group on its past diversity and inclusion goals or attended the organization’s conferences. The company recently invited the NBFA to apply for a partnership with Tractor Supply’s foundation, however the organization learned on June 26 — the day before Tractor Supply announced its DEI and climate goals — that it was not among the many groups chosen, he said.