, Columnist
Tractor Supply’s DEI Cowardice Will Come Back to Bite It
The farm retailer’s decision to walk back equity and climate commitments is alienating the customers it needs to grow.
The chickens will come home to roost.
Photographer: Westend61
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In 2021, Tractor Supply Co. Chief Executive Hal Lawton published an op-ed in The Tennessean that read like a call to action. “If we are to tackle important issues such as climate that put our children’s future at risk, and if we are to make real progress on a societal commitment to greater opportunities for all, the business community needs to lead by example,” he wrote in the company’s hometown paper. “Tractor Supply can and will do more.”
Less than three years later, “doing more” has come to mean marking the end of Pride Month by abandoning the LGBTQ+ community.