Tractor Supply Company the largest rural lifestyle retailer in the U.S. is in a conservation agreement with Ducks Unlimited and Trout Unlimited. The Tractor Supply Company Foundation will invest $150,000 into each conservation group over the next three years to support projects aimed at land conservation, wetland restoration and tree-planting efforts.
Tractor Supply’s engagement with DU and TU supports the company’s sustainability goals as part of its commitment to being “Stewards of Life Out Here.” The partnership with DU aims to conserve 90,000 acres of working lands and wetland restoration, enough to conserve 12.5 million gallons of water, bringing Tractor Supply significantly closer to fulfilling its goal to conserve 25 million gallons of water by 2025. The company’s partnership with TU also supports its water conservation goal, along with its previously established commitment to reducing its carbon footprint to achieve net zero emissions by 2040.
“To advance our stewardship efforts, Tractor Supply is dedicated to finding innovative solutions to put our values in action, such as partnerships like these,” says Mary Winn Pilkington, president of the Tractor Supply Company Foundation.
Beginning in 2022, Tractor Supply’s three-year partnership with DU is focused on private lands in North Dakota and Texas. The North Dakota project is designed to support 30,000 acres of conservation on working lands by reducing tillage, planting diverse cover crops and incorporating grazing management practices to increase grass productivity and drought resistance. The area is a top-priority landscape for DU as it encompasses the Prairie Pothole Region, North America’s most important waterfowl breeding habitat.
In Texas, Tractor Supply will support DU’s Texas Prairie Wetlands Project designed to restore, enhance and protect shallow, seasonally flooded wetland habitat on private lands within a 28-county focus area along the Texas Gulf Coast.
“This new, three-year partnership with Tractor Supply will help us consistently deliver more on-the-ground conservation projects that are beneficial for farmers, ranchers and rural communities in Texas and North Dakota,” says Ducks Unlimited Chief Conservation Officer Dr. Karen Waldrop. “Agriculture is at the heart of our traditional culture and core base of supporters, just as the ag community is a strong customer base for Tractor Supply. In serving our mutual customers, we can amplify our shared commitment to serve people who live the rural lifestyle.”
Beginning this year, Tractor Supply’s support will enhance the depth and breadth of TU’s “Plant for our Future” campaign by planting 25,000 trees annually to intercept and store 4.12 million gallons of water from stormwater runoff and sequester 3.5 million pounds of CO2 by June 2025. Through this collaboration, TU will also activate more than 2,500 volunteers, including Tractor Supply Team Members and other community partners, in a national planting campaign.
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