NEW YORK
AP
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John Deere has announced it will no longer sponsor “social or cultural awareness” events, becoming the latest major U.S. company to distance itself from diversity and inclusion measures after facing backlash from conservatives.
In a statement posted Tuesday on the social media platform X, the farm equipment maker also said it would review all training materials “to ensure the absence of socially oriented messages” in accordance with federal and local laws. It did not specify what those messages would contain.
John Deere, based in Moline, Illinois, added that “the existence of diversity quotas and the identification of pronouns has never been and is not company policy.” But it noted that it would continue to “monitor and advance” the company’s diversity, without providing further details.
The move by the company known on Wall Street as Deere & Co. comes just weeks after rural retailer Tractor Supply ended a series of its diversity and climate efforts. Both announcements came after conservative activists online pushed back against the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, sponsorship of LGBTQ+ Pride events and climate advocacy.
Conservative political commentator and filmmaker Robby Starbuck appears to have been the main critic of both companies on X.
Starbuck said John Deere’s announcement marked “another huge victory in our war on wokeness,” but said it was still not enough, calling on the company to eliminate its DEI policies entirely and no longer participate in the Corporate Equality Index ratings of the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBTQ+ rights group in the United States.
Starbuck, a 35-year-old Cuban-American, told The Associated Press that “it’s not lost on me that my children would benefit from these things,” but he opposes hiring decisions that take race into account, as well as DEI initiatives, employee resource groups that promote non-work activities and any policy that he says allows social issues and politics to become part of a company’s culture.
“People should go to work without feeling like they have to behave in a certain way to be acceptable to their employer,” he said.
Starbuck and other conservative activists last month praised Brentwood, Tennessee-based Tractor Supply for taking a more aggressive approach than John Deere by pledging to eliminate all of its DEI roles while abandoning current DEI goals and stopping submitting data to the Human Rights Campaign.
But the move has also sparked outrage from critics of the new stance, who say Tractor Supply is pandering to hate.
John Deere’s decision was met with similar reactions. Eric Bloem, vice president of corporate programs and advocacy at the Human Rights Campaign, called the announcement “disappointing” and “a direct result of a coordinated attack by far-right extremists on American businesses.”
National Black Farmers Association President John Boyd, Jr. on Wednesday called for the resignation of Deere & Co. CEO John C. May and a boycott of the company.
The organization said Deere “continues to move in the wrong direction” on DEI and has “failed to show support” for Black farmers since the NBFA was founded. It also noted that Tuesday’s announcement comes a month after the company agreed to pay $1.1 million in back wages and interest to 277 Black and Hispanic job applicants after the Department of Labor alleged hiring discrimination.
The conservative backlash against DEI has extended to companies across industries, including previous boycotts of Bud Light and Target over their LGBTQ+ marketing. Starbucks said it has a list of companies it plans to post content about, starting with those with traditionally conservative customer bases. It declined to name its next target.
The resulting shifts in corporate policy and commitments aren’t just coming from corporate boardrooms. Last week, the Society for Human Resource Management, a leading human resources organization, announced that the 340,000-member lobbying and advocacy group would drop equity in its approach to diversity and inclusion, while saying it remains committed to advancing it.
“Effective today, SHRM will adopt the acronym ‘I&D’ instead of ‘IE&D,’” the group said in a statement posted on LinkedIn. “By focusing on inclusion above all else, we aim to address the current gaps in DE&I programs, which have led to societal backlash and increasing polarization.”
The move sparked a backlash among LinkedIn users, with some calling it “retrograde” and “shameful.” Others responded that they were considering canceling their SHRM subscriptions.
Still others point out that prioritizing equity is essential to leveling the playing field, saying this type of omission signals a shift in messaging that could have chilling consequences for workplace equality efforts.
In an interview with the AP on Wednesday, SHRM President and CEO Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., said the organization’s focus groups found general consensus on prioritizing diversity and inclusion, but “the E triggered all sorts of emotions and responses.”
“You either loved it or you hated it,” he said. “If it’s so polarizing that people abandon it, then we’ve all lost.”
Legal attacks on companies’ diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts have also gained increased attention since the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision ending affirmative action in college admissions. Many conservative and anti-DEI activists have sought to set a similar precedent in the workplace.
“The impacts and potential vulnerabilities are real,” said Jen Stark, co-director of the Center for Business and Social Justice at BSR, a consulting network of more than 300 businesses.
The vast majority of companies are “not taking the bait” and are keeping their policies in place “because it makes business sense and it’s also the right thing to do,” she said. Still, she added, external pressures are building.
The United States is also in the midst of a busy presidential election year, with heated discussions about the prospects of Project 2025 — a term for the Heritage Foundation’s nearly 1,000-page playbook for the next Republican administration that has become a tool Democrats are wielding against former President Donald Trump.
Stark noted that companies across industries are preparing for the prospect of potential changes to their federal contracts, for example, which have historically been an effective way to promote workplace equity.
That doesn’t mean companies will stop their DEI efforts altogether, she added, but they may need to change their language or find new workarounds.
“All of these critical points that companies are sort of oscillating between are the new normal,” she said.