If you ask a cross-section of Americans to list their favorite retail chain, Tractor Supply Company (TSC) would be on few lips. Its stores possess nothing of glamor or marketing flair. A store’s atmosphere is deliberate, reflecting a no-nonsense, get-the-job-done-and-get-out crowd.
Despite its “under the radar” image, the company has come under fire for adopting and then rejecting woke attitudes. This article has two goals: first, to explain just what is happening at TSC and then describe its importance to a nation rapidly growing weary of “wokeness.”
Where Did the Money Go?
Despite its lack of presence in America’s big cities, TSC is one of the giants of American retailing. It is an anomaly in other ways, as well. While many chain stores and malls close, TSC grows. According to its corporate website, it operates over 2,200 stores in forty-nine states. It employs over 50,000 “team members” and rang up $14.6 billion in sales in 2023. That is roughly double the sales of one-time retail giant JCPenney.
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TSC describes its customers as “a niche market of farmers, horse owners, ranchers, part-time and hobby farmers, and suburban and rural homeowners, as well as contractors and tradesmen.” According to many reports, TSC treats its customers well and garners high ratings for customer service.
All the same, TSC has waded into considerable hot water. On June 28, 2024, the company’s market capitalization—the total value of its outstanding stock—was $28.8 billion. That is a lot of money. However, according to Wall Street watcher Inc., that was $2.4 billion less than it had been only ten days earlier.
To put it briefly, TSC lost almost ten percent of its value in a week-and-a-half. That is a disaster in anybody’s estimation. How could such a disaster befall an otherwise healthy company?
Wokeness Thrives on Being Noticed
However, the “woke” mindset is obsessed with publicity. Anonymity betrays a lack of commitment. In the era of social media, appearances are everything.
TSC is in a similar situation. Their plight began when an internet campaign exposed the firm as a major promoter of the “woke” agenda. The campaign started with a YouTube video. In it, a presenter named Robby Starbuck exposed information and photographs provided anonymously by TSC employees. Mr. Starbuck disclosed financial support for pride and drag events, an insurance plan that includes sex change operations, and a requirement that employees endure “LGBTQIA+ training.” Other right-wing outlets and podcasts picked up on the story. As July progressed, the company’s exposure grew. Increasingly, TSC customers registered outrage.
The company soon learned what Anheuser-Busch company discovered last year when its “Bud Light” brand suffered because conservative customers objected to the company’s “transsexual” endorser. It found out why Target refocused its “Pride” merchandise promotion in 2024 after attracting an avalanche of unwelcome attention in 2023.
Catering to a Conservative Customer Base
Unlike Target and Walmart, TSC’s core rural customers tend to be conservative…and generally “unwoke.”
Indeed, TSC presents itself as a harbinger of traditional American values. Its slogan, “For Life Out Here,” implicitly rejects everything stylish, trendy and urban. Under the phrase “Our Culture,” its website promotes time-honored ideals.
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“Out here, we believe actions speak louder than words. So it’s no surprise we’d rather be helping out with a farm or ranch chore, than talking about it…. Our rural lifestyle is a celebration of independence. Self-reliance is a source of great pride, but the “do it yourself” attitude doesn’t mean you have to do it alone…. This commitment to each other, to ‘being there’ for our neighbors and friends, is what sustains us through good times and bad.”
A Sharp Turn Left
Many indicators point to Tractor Supply CEO Harry “Hal” Lawton as the source for the company’s leftist shift. Mr. Lawton’s resume includes Home Depot and online giant eBay. From September 2017 to December 2019, he was the president of Macy’s department store chain.
Moving from Macy’s big city milieu to small-town TSC must have been quite a change. In fact, on December 18, 2019, a business-oriented website, The Robin Report, asked point-blank, “Who is Tractor Supply Co, and Why Did Hal Lawton Go There?” The column answered its own question. “In fact, Tractor Supply is one of the most under-the-radar modern retailing operations in the country and Lawton’s arrival may signal that the company is getting ready to take its game to the next level.”
Circumstances deemed that move propitious. The COVID pandemic throttled department stores, but TSC thrived. Designer-label clothing, perfumes, and jewelry were branded luxury items, while TSC’s line of animal feeds, gardening supplies, and work clothes was deemed “essential.” Many Macy’s locations temporarily shuttered their doors, but TSC’s business changed little.
Saluting the Woke Banner
At the same time, Mr. Lawton tested the woke waters of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and the once nearly universal acronym ESG—environmental, social and governance.
In late 2021, he told The Tennessean, “As ESG has emerged as the universal standard for good corporate citizenship, we have adapted our Stewardship Program to align with this direction.”
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He continued, “We are also prioritizing and accelerating our initiatives for DE&I. These actions include establishing five-year goals to support and advance underrepresented groups across our workforce, vendors, suppliers, and communities…. We are proud of the diverse breadth of our board, including gender, experience, industry, ethnicity, and age, guiding the future of our company.”
A sign of TSC’s allegiance to the DEI-ESG alphabet soup is its relationship with the so-called Human Rights Campaign (HRC). The organization “envisions a world where every member of the LGBTQ+ family has the freedom to live their truth without fear.” The company strove to gain HRC’s approval, implementing training courses for its employees and providing data on those employees to the HRC.
Reversing Course
Under increased public scrutiny, TSC has discovered that ESG and DEI have massive downsides that express themselves in customer disapproval and collapsing stock prices. So, it is taking steps to staunch the bleeding.
Those steps began on June 27 with a remarkable public statement.
First, TSC listed those “investments” that would earn favor with the customers. The company listed “veteran causes, emergency response, animal shelters, state fairs, rodeos and farmers markets, FFA (Future Farmers of America), 4-H and “other educational organizations.”
TSC also made a series of promises.
“Going forward, we will ensure our activities and giving tie directly to our business. For instance, this means we will:
- No longer submit data to the Human Rights Campaign
- Refocus our Team Member Engagement Groups on mentoring, networking and supporting the business
- Further focus on rural America priorities, including ag education, animal welfare, veteran causes and being a good neighbor and stop sponsoring nonbusiness activities like pride festivals and voting campaigns
- Eliminate DEI roles and retire our current DEI goals while still ensuring a respectful environment
- Withdraw our carbon emission goals and focus on our land and water conservation efforts.”
Is the Apology Sincere?
While the TSC statement never admits wrongdoing, it has many earmarks of an apology—at least a half-hearted one. Any move that reverses the radical agenda is welcome. However, some questions are necessary. The first is whether their atonement is sincere—does the company intend to follow through on its promises? Will they be more conservative or more carefully liberal? Only time—and public scrutiny—will tell.
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Tractor Supply Company now joins the list of companies that have discovered that the values of 2020 street rioters are not those of most Americans. Common-sense Americans may forgive TSC. Extending a “second chance” is part of the American DNA. However, third chances are far less common.
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