Beloved tractor firm in huge U-turn on DEI after farmer fury at Pride events for toddlers
- Activists say John Deere has 'gone woke' with push on LGBTQ+ and DEI agenda
- The tractor firm says it's important to make companies 'more inclusive' today
- READ MORE: Fury as old tractor firm slashes Midwest jobs in shift to Mexico
The beloved tractor firm John Deere has backtracked on its diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) policies in the face of opposition and a damaging boycott from farmers and conservatives.
The company said in a statement it would drop 'socially motivated messaging' and 'diversity quotas and pronoun identification' and distance itself from 'cultural awareness parades.'
The $61 billion-a-year firm had come under fire over sponsoring a Pride event for children as young as three and other DEI efforts, even as it shuttered plants and sacked American workers.
'Our customers' trust and confidence in us are of the utmost importance to everyone at John Deere,' the company posted on X on Tuesday.
'We fully intend to earn it every day and in every way we can.'
John Deere, which makes tractors, construction vehicles, mowers, and snowmobiles, is the latest all-American brand to drop its DEI policies
The backlash against John Deere echoed a similar boycott against Tractor Supply, a retail chain, and last year's high-profile campaign against Bud Light over a tie-up with a trans influencer, which cost the beer-maker millions in lost sales.
Supporters of DEI efforts say they help get more women and minority talent into companies, but critics call them an irritating box-ticking exercise that often blows back on straight, white men.
Pictured: John Deere CEO John May made $26.7 million in total compensation last year
Critics had slammed John Deere for supporting the Little Rainbow Run at the Capital City Pride event last month in Des Moines, Iowa, which involved toddlers in the LGBTQ+ festivities.
The firm also embraced new-wave gender ideology, including staff training sessions on the 'genderbread person,' which drops traditional notions of sex in favor of the gender spectrum.
John Deere's website urged staff to 'use their personal pronouns' in email signatures, saying it is a 'sign of mutual respect' for people who do not identify with their biological sex.
The site also referred to 'strengthening the diversity of our workforce' and the need for 'inclusiveness, so every employee can make the greatest impact as their true self.'
Robby Starbuck, a filmmaker and 2022 GOP House candidate for Tennessee, launched a pressure campaign against the firm last week, saying managers had 'forgotten who their customers are.'
The company announced its DEI reversal this week on X, saying it wanted to keep 'customers' trust and confidence.'
John Deere was under fire for sponsoring a fun run for kids as young as three at the Capital City Pride event last month in Des Moines, Iowa.
The company website makes several references to 'diversity,' 'inclusivity,' and the use of preferred pronouns
The company reportedly runs including staff training sessions on the 'genderbread person,' which casts aside traditional notions of sex in favor of the gender spectrum.
In its statement, John Deere did not refer to Starbuck, saying instead it was 'listening to feedback.'
In reversing its DEI policies, the 185-year-old firm, which has 83,000 employees across more than 30 countries, said it would focus messaging on agriculture, hunger and other issues related to its brand.
That means dropping its support for Pride and other 'cultural awareness parades, festivals, or events,' said the statement.
The company's so-called Business Resource Groups, which separate employees along racial, gender and sexual identity lines, would be scaled back, said the statement.
Training materials would have 'socially motivated messages' erased, and diversity quotas and rules on pronoun use would stay off the table, the statement added.
Starbuck responded to the statement by calling it 'another huge win in our war on wokeness.'
'BUT I don't think this is enough for customers to go back,' Starbuck posted on X.
'Customers want to hear that DEI policies are entirely gone.'
The backlash against John Deere, which is known for its leaping deer logo, come as the company sparks outrage by laying off American workers and moving more of its agricultural equipment manufacturing to Mexico.
Since October 2023, more than 1,000 John Deere workers have either been laid off or pushed into an early retirement across several plants in Iowa and Illinois.
Inside a John Deere plant in Ottumwa, Iowa, where over 100 jobs were cut this year
Robby Starbuck, the filmmaker and 2022 Republican House candidate for Tennessee, is on a mission to defeat wokery in corporate America
The tractor maker has been laying off staff and shifting operations to Mexico
More than 10,000 workers at John Deere went on strike for five weeks in 2021. They won a 10 percent raise for hourly earners and increased retirement benefits
John Deere's Harvester Works facility in East Moline, Illinois, where 225 workers were indefinitely laid off in October 2023
In many instances, production that these US workers were responsible for has been shifted to new locations in Mexico.
The criticism marked the latest in a series of conservative-led boycotts against well-known brands that embrace progressive policies, which have hit Bud Light, Target, Cracker Barrel, Tractor Supply, The North Face, and many others.
Portrait of John Deere, the man who founded the company that bears his name to this day
Many companies that embraced DEI policies in the wake of the cop killing of unarmed black man George Floyd in May 2020 have stepped back from them for fear of irking conservative customers.
For some, DEI schemes are important and necessary, as they can help to overcome historical racism and sexism and make it easier for people of all backgrounds to get ahead in education and work.
Critics say it's a form of reverse discrimination that unfairly blows back on straight, white men.
Others say DEI schemes may be well-intentioned, but seldom achieve their desired goals and often make things worse by stirring up divisions in offices and classrooms.
John Deere, which is almost exclusively known for its green tractors and iconic leaping deer logo, was established nearly two centuries ago in 1837.
In its early days, it produced self scouring steel plows, which revolutionized farming and replaced the inferior cast iron plow that got stuck in sticky soil.
Now, John Deere, which still bears its founder's name, manufactures everything from tractors, construction vehicles, mowers, and snowmobiles.
The company is headquartered in Moline, Illinois.
