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John Deere ends support for ‘awareness’ measures

Farm company distances itself from diversity, inclusion efforts

Farm equipment maker John Deere says 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 being targeted by conservative backlash.

In a statement posted Tuesday to social media platform X, John Deere also said it would audit all training materials “to ensure the absence of socially-motivated messages” in compliance with federal and local laws. It did not specify what those messages would include.

Moline, Illinois-based John Deere added “the existence of diversity quotas and pronoun identification have never been and are not company policy.” But it noted that it would still continue to “track and advance” the diversity of the company, without providing further details on how those metrics would be recorded.

The move from the company known on Wall Street as Deere & Co. arrives just weeks after rural retailer Tractor Supply ended an array of its corporate diversity and climate efforts. Both announcements came after backlash piled up online from conservative activists opposed to diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, sponsorship of LGBTQ+ Pride events and climate advocacy.

Conservative political commentator and filmmaker Robby Starbuck appeared to lead the criticism of both companies on X.

Starbuck posted that John Deere’s announcement marked “another huge win in our war on wokeness,” but said that it still wasn’t enough, calling on the company to completely eliminate its DEI policies and no longer participate in Corporate Equality Index scoring from the Human Rights Campaign, the largest advocacy group for LGBTQ+ rights in the U.S.

Starbuck, a 35-year-old Cuban American, told The Associated Press that “it’s not lost on me my kids would benefit from this stuff,” but he opposes hiring decisions that factor in race, as well as DEI initiatives, employee resource groups that promote non-professional activities and any policies that in his view allow social issues and politics to become part of a company culture.

John Deere’s move has faced pushback. Eric Bloem, vice president of programs and corporate advocacy at the Human Rights Campaign, called the announcement “disappointing” and “a direct result of a coordinated attack by far-right extremists on American business.”

National Black Farmers Association President John Boyd Jr. also called for the resignation of Deere & Co CEO John C. May and a boycott of the company on Wednesday.

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