John Deere, the American manufacturing company of agricultural machinery and other heavy equipment, announced its commitment to end a number of its DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion) policies for employees after a number of the company’s controversial policies were investigated and exposed by Tennessee political commentator and documentary filmmaker Robby Starbuck.
The company posted a statement explaining changes to a number of its internal policies on social media.
Our customers’ trust and confidence in us are of the utmost importance to everyone at John Deere. We fully intend to earn it every day and in every way we can. pic.twitter.com/8BgyPyQJQo
— John Deere (@JohnDeere) July 16, 2024
“To best serve our customers and employees, Deere is always listening to feedback and looking for opportunities to improve,” the company’s statement reads.
After touting its investment in initiatives boosting agriculture education, STEM programs, and military veterans, the company listed five specific policies it would be suspending in order to “earn customers’ trust and confidence.”
Those commitments, as written in John Deere’s statement, are:
Based on ongoing conversations, we have committed to the following:
- We will no longer participate in or support external social or cultural awareness parades, festivals, or events.
- Business Resource Groups will exclusively be focused on professional development, networking, mentoring. and supporting talent recruitment efforts.
- Auditing all company-mandated training materials and policies to ensure the absence of socially motivated messages, while being in compliance with federal, state, and local laws.
- Reaffirming within the business that the existence of diversity quotas and pronoun identification have never been and are not company policy.
- We fundamentally believe that a diverse workforce enables us to best meet our customers’ needs and because of that we will continue to track and advance the diversity of our organization.
“We remain committed to listening to our customers, employees, and other key stakeholders. Your trust and confidence in us are of the utmost importance to everyone at John Deere and we fully intend to earn it every day and in every way we can,” the company added.
The company’s change to its internal policies comes weeks after Starbuck first exposed the company’s DEI policies on July 9.
“To put it mildly, John Deere seems to have forgotten who their customers are. Having a farm myself, I’m disgusted that a once great American brand is now taking this turn to seemingly embrace leftist policies that are diametrically opposed to the values of most farmers,” Starbuck said at the time.
Starbuck recently told The Tennessee Star’s CEO and Editor-in-Chief Michael Patrick Leahy that “hundreds” of upset employees have reached out to him about the company’s DEI policies since his investigative research into John Deere.
“I never thought I would see great American companies like this turn toward what is essentially a trojan horse for leftism and all the work policies to go along with it. But that’s exactly what they’ve done,” Starbuck said last week on an episode of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show.
“I’ve had multiple sources, employees at corporate, come to me and say that they’re allowing men to use the same bathroom as women, as long as they say they’re trans, and essentially, if you have any problem with it as a woman at work, it’s framed as discrimination to have an issue with it. This type of thinking permeates so much further than the bathrooms, too,” Starbuck added.
Wow. @JohnDeere just issued this statement in response to me exposing them.
They say that going forward they commit to:
• No longer funding pride parades
• Business resource groups will no longer be divided on identity lines
• Audit all training materials to ensure the… pic.twitter.com/jmcNc2DWpW— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) July 16, 2024
While John Deere committed to ending a number of its controversial policies, Starbuck called the company’s announcement a “half measure” to attract customers back to the business.
“Another huge win in our war on wokeness BUT I don’t think this is enough for customers to go back. Customers want to hear that DEI policies are entirely gone and that they will no longer participate in social credit CEI scoring by HRC,” Starbuck said.
“This half measure shows that we’re a powerful force to be reckoned with though. While I’m not completely pleased, I don’t want to downplay the fact that this is another massive win. All of you are helping me force corporate America back to sanity. I won’t rest until we eliminate leftism from corporate America,” Starbuck added.
Starbuck’s work to expose John Deere’s DEI policies comes after he also exposed Tractor Supply Company for its woke policies, which forced the company to reverse course amid consumer backlash.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
