Tractor Supply issues 2022 Stewardship Tear Sheet

Tractor Supply Company has increasingly become a sustainability champion in recent years, particularly when living up to its “Life out here” slogan.

And the nation’s largest farm and ranch retailer issued its fourth annual stewardship tear sheet this morning, which includes performance highlights and progress made through 2022 on its sustainability priorities. 

The Brentwood, Tenn.-based retailer noted that the report’s release comes in conjunction with Earth Week.

“For all of us at Tractor Supply, Life Out Here represents not only a lifestyle, but a way of life. It means living closer to the land, cultivating and growing, caring for pets and animals and embracing self-reliance and independence,” said Hal Lawton, Tractor Supply’s president and chief executive officer. “As we mark our 85^th anniversary, Tractor Supply remains fiercely committed to preserving Life Out Here for future generations. To that end, we’ve made great progress toward our ambitious stewardship goals, and we look forward to celebrating our accomplishments during Earth Week.”

Highlights of Tractor Supply’s 2022 Stewards of Life Out Here report include:

• Reduced absolute carbon emissions by 12% as the company made progress on its goals to achieve absolute carbon reduction from operations of 20 percent by 2025 and 50 percent by 2030 from a 2020 baseline. The company is committed to achieving net zero emissions across all operations by 2040.
• Announced an ambitious three-year water conservation goal to conserve 25 million gallons of water by 2025.
• Built its first distribution center to LEED Gold certification standards.
• Issued its third annual TCFD report detailing the company’s strategy to mitigate and address climate-related risk.
• Invested in its Team Members through competitive pay and benefit enhancements and confirmed it is on track to meet the company’s multi-year DE&I goals established in 2021.
• Donated more than $15 million to community organizations through direct giving, sponsorships, fundraisers and more as the company continued to show appreciation for its customers and their passions. The Tractor Supply Foundation underwrote a five-year, $5 million commitment to FFA to establish the largest agricultural scholarship of its kind.

Earth Week activities
In celebration of Earth Week, Tractor Supply invited its Store Support Center Team Members to participate in various planting and clean-up events. 

A highlight of the week was a tree planting event in support of the Tractor Supply Foundation’s three-year commitment to Trout Unlimited to enhance the depth and breadth of its “Plant for our Future” campaign. 

As part of this initiative, which aims to plant 25,000 trees annually, Trout Unlimited supported volunteers from Tractor Supply and Friends of Franklin Parks at Harlinsdale Park in Franklin, Tennessee as they planted 375 trees. 

These native trees and shrubs benefit the stream habitat and address the impacts of climate change by capturing stormwater runoff and storing carbon dioxide. Over the next 30 years, these trees will help the Harpeth River avoid more than 400,000 gallons of stormwater runoff – reducing flooding and water pollution. 

They will also sequester more than 650,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per year–equivalent to removing 72 cars from the road for a year. Volunteers at the event also had the opportunity to learn how to fly fish from the professionals at Trout Unlimited.

Additional Earth Week activities included:

• Planting and preparing soil for spring on Cul2vate’s eight acres of farmland, located at the State of Tennessee’s Ellington Agricultural Center. Cul2vate is a Middle Tennessee nonprofit dedicated to combatting food insecurity with fresh produce that is harvested and distributed by individuals seeking to cultivate change in themselves.
• Joining the Tennessee Environmental Council in its effort to clear invasive plant species and plant trees at Tractor Supply’s Store Support Center in Brentwood.
• Offering the opportunity to safely recycle old or unwanted electronics in designated bins at the Store Support Center.