Ray Brook’s Tractor Supply Company, pictured here Thursday. (Company photo — Sydney Emerson)
RAY BROOK — The CEO and an employee of Tractor Supply in Ray Brook have resigned and others are considering resigning after the company signaled it would eliminate its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts and end its commitment to environmental goals following weeks of conservative backlash online.
Ray Brook store general manager Joe Montello of Saranac Lake is a gay man. He has worked at Tractor Supply for six and a half years and believes the company is supposed to be inclusive and cater to everyone, regardless of sexual orientation or race. But after reading the company’s statement last week, his feelings changed.
“I felt betrayed” he said. “I felt like they betrayed not only their employees, but also a large portion of their customers.”
Brentwood, Tennessee-based Tractor Supply Company said in a statement last week that it would eliminate its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion team and phase out its DEI goals; it would stop sponsoring “non-commercial activities”, such as pride festivals and election campaigns; and that it would stop submitting data to the Human Rights Campaign, an LGBTQIA-plus advocacy group.
The company also said it would pull back from its carbon emissions targets and instead “focus on its land and water conservation efforts.” The company initially aimed to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions from 2020 levels by 20% by 2025 and 50% by 2030, and to achieve net-zero emissions across all of its operations by 2040, Tractor Supply CEO Hal Lawton wrote in a 2021 opinion piece in The Tennessean.
After reading the company’s statement, “I’ve had a lot of customers come to me and say they’re not going to shop at Tractor Supply anymore,” Montello said. “They didn’t want to support his anti-diversity policies.”
Jacob Vennie-Vollrath, whose family owns Moonstone Farm more than 100 years ago, worked part-time at Tractor Supply. He also resigned this week to support “people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ+ employees and customers who were impacted by the politically motivated abrupt change in corporate policy,” he said.
The company said it plans instead to “focus more on rural America’s priorities, including (agricultural) education, animal welfare, veterans’ causes and being a good neighbor.”
The move was welcomed by conservatives. It was also rejected: The National Black Farmers Association called Tuesday for the resignation of Tractor Supply’s CEO.
The Saranac Lake-based Adirondack Diversity Initiative called Tractor Supply’s statement “A shocking betrayal of human rights and dignity, of the environment and of our democratic right to vote.”
“We stand firmly behind our LGBTQIA+ neighbors and family specifically named in Tractor Supply’s public statement. ADI will continue to champion the true priorities of rural America: diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging – values for which our Adirondack and North Country communities consistently demonstrate care, concern and commitment,” ADI Director Tiffany Rea-Fisher said this on Thursday.
Tractor Supply did not respond to a request for comment for this article by Thursday’s deadline.
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Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
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Vennie-Vollrath said he was going to Tractor Supply “for small farm items for (his) little farm since the store opened and Joe (Montello) was always nice to talk to.” He works several jobs to make ends meet. “like most people in this area,” He joined Tractor Supply to help with the region’s labor shortage.
“Joe created a safe work environment where everyone felt free to be themselves, which I believe was reflected in the diversity of his team members.” he said.
“Anyone who reads the CEO’s statement clearly sees it as a political statement… designed to please a certain camp,” he added. “Politics should simply be kept out of the workplace. With one letter, the CEO made the situation political and alienated many people. It was an un-American, irresponsible, and political decision that does not align with the company’s stated values. In an instant, the CEO changed the way Joe and others felt about working and shopping there…including me.”
The company’s statement last week marks a significant policy reversal for a company that wrote in its annual report released in March that DEI plays a role “a key role in advancing its business.”
The company said in its annual report that racial and ethnic minorities make up 18 percent of its workforce, saying it has “We have built a strong and diverse team by deliberately seeking highly qualified and diverse candidates with different backgrounds, experiences, perspectives, ideas and skills.” Last year, the Human Rights Campaign gave Tractor Supply a score of 95 out of 100 for its employee protections, inclusive benefits, internal training and inclusive culture.
“This is a shocking and shameful reversal from a company that just a year ago Newsweek hailed as one of the best places to work in America for diversity. That’s no doubt why it was targeted,” Rea-Fisher said.
The company’s turnaround comes after it faced an online campaign led by conservatives encouraging consumers to boycott the company over its DEI work, with conservative political commentator Robby Starbuck telling his X followers on June 6 that “We don’t want our hard-earned money spent on these woke priorities.” He urged them to “Start buying what you can elsewhere until Tractor Supply makes REAL changes.”
“It is infuriating that they have caved in to a group of extremists destroying the goodwill, respect and community they have built within their communities, their employees and their customers,” Rea-Fisher said. “This is not the first attack on DEI efforts and it will not be the last. However, those of us who remain on the right side of history will continue to make our voices heard.”
The negative reaction comes amid Tractor Supply’s anemic comparable sales growth so far this year, with sales up just 1.1% in the first quarter, Fortune reported this week.
Online campaigns by conservatives to encourage consumers to boycott companies — such as Bud Light and Target — have cost those companies tens of millions of dollars, Fortune reported.
While some companies, like Tractor Supply, have made public statements announcing their intention to eliminate their DEI goals, others have quietly changed their DEI programs as part of a growing trend of corporate policy changes following a wave of legal challenges following the Supreme Court’s June decision striking down affirmative action in higher education.
Montello said he believes Tractor Supply has “given over” to those who boycott the company.
He said that at Ray Brook Tractor Supply alone, a “pretty small” company location, there are several LGBTQIA+ employees and people who have LGBTQIA+ family members.
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What is DEI?
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DEI, in its simplest form, promotes the fair treatment and full participation of all employees, Rea-Fisher said.
“A diverse workplace recognizes the individual strengths and potential of each employee, allowing them to fully flourish in their work.” She said: “Valuing others’ differences creates a positive company culture, and studies have shown that it results in better financial performance, better employee attraction and retention, and corporate creativity and innovation, all of which contribute to a company’s competitive advantage. Companies that have strong DEI goals and initiatives are more successful than those that don’t, while also valuing the members of their community, whether they’re their employees or their customers.”
“Not only does having clearly stated and implemented DEI goals in the workplace promote fair treatment and greater employee engagement, but studies have repeatedly shown that it also produces better decision-making because of the broad range of perceptions in the room; improves innovation because a mix of backgrounds and perspectives encourages creative problem-solving; improves economic performance by ensuring better business outcomes; and an important element is the mitigation of bias,” she added. “DEI goals help identify and address systematic biases and barriers within an organization. These are just a few examples of many, which is why Tractor Supply’s decision to roll back its DEI goals due to political pressure is an untenable path.”
The Adirondack Diversity Initiative helps local businesses and organizations achieve their DEI goals and initiatives. This often includes “personalized support in writing inclusive job descriptions or fair and impartial human resources policies”, according to ADI. ADI runs DEIB-focused training for business leaders and staff and is developing a “Welcome and belong” microcredit that will soon be offered by North Country Community College.
ADI’s November symposium, Creating Inclusivity for North Country Sustainability, works closely with the Adirondack North Country Association’s Small Business Program, with a focus on helping businesses and nonprofits build networks and capacity to create inclusive hiring practices and organizational cultures, and diversify their workforces and customer bases, according to ADI.
Local businesses interested in learning more can visit the ANCA and ADI websites: www.adirondack.org and www.diversityadk.org.
At Tractor Supply, Montello hopes the company will reverse course and maintain its DEI and environmental goals.
“There are so many different types of people shopping here” he said. “People should be able to live and shop feeling safe wherever they go, and feel valued.”