By John Q. Hosedrinker 
For decades, Jack Daniel’s distillery and Moore County farmers benefited from the Cow Feeder Program, where farmers received distillery byproduct for livestock feed. The program, ending March 31, has been replaced with a contract with Three Rivers Energy to convert the waste into renewable gas and fertilizer. This decision has devastated local farmers, who relied on the inexpensive feed source and now face land and livestock sales. While Jack Daniel’s cites sustainability goals and advance notice, the change will significantly impact the county’s many livestock operations and the distillery’s long standing relationship with its neighbors.
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Jack Daniel’s scrapping its partnership with farmers in Moore County, Tennessee, has certainly stirred up a hornet’s nest, and honestly, it’s easy to see why. The core of the issue is that a long-standing arrangement, where local livestock operations benefited from free or low-cost feed derived from Jack Daniel’s waste products, is ending. The change? Jack Daniel’s is now selling that waste to a biogas plant, meaning they’re making money off something they used to give away. This switcheroo leaves many farmers, who’ve built their businesses on the previous arrangement, suddenly scrambling.
Let’s be clear, it seems like the farmers had a significant advantage for a very long time. Access to free feed, or at least heavily subsidized feed, is a huge boost to the bottom line. Building a business model around that kind of setup is understandable. However, the fact that Jack Daniel’s gave a three-year heads-up about the program’s termination changes the complexion of the situation. Three years is a decent window to adjust, to find alternative feed sources, to perhaps rethink the scale of operations, or to develop a plan B. The fact that the farmers appear to be caught off guard, as some accounts suggest, raises some eyebrows.
The argument, at least the way it appears, is that this shift could “ruin the community.” It’s a dramatic statement. Communities can be resilient, and while economic hardship is never desirable, the implication that the end of this single arrangement is the sole factor for a local collapse is rather strong. This isn’t a natural disaster, it’s a business decision.
The irony is almost too thick to cut with a knife. We are dealing with farmers who appear to have become reliant on what is essentially a large, long-term handout from Jack Daniel’s. They’re now facing the consequences of the end of that free ride, and some seem to be expressing frustration. One has to wonder how much forward-thinking went into their planning, considering they knew this arrangement was going to end. If the ground in Moore County isn’t ideally suited for growing typical livestock feed, and the farmers depended on a single source for many years, the writing was on the wall.
Then there is the whole political angle. There is the clear suggestion that these farmers, and by extension the community, are the same folks who often espouse anti-handout rhetoric and support political positions that seemingly run counter to the idea of subsidized aid. The fact they had a forty year free ride, and had three years notice to get ready to buy feed and didn’t, lends credibility to the idea that they relied on an unending windfall.
The situation also brings up the question of what exactly the farmers were doing with their profits during the time they received free feed. It’s hard to say, but if their business model wasn’t built on securing a profitable foundation, they were clearly not prepared to sustain the operations. If the profits went somewhere other than investments that could have allowed for the transition to different feed sources, this is a more clear case of lack of planning. This can be seen as a failure to plan and an unwillingness to adapt when the writing was on the wall.
It’s worth noting the broader implications of what’s happening. The biogas plant is converting the distillery waste into a potential energy source. This move isn’t just about money; it’s also about sustainable practices. There’s a clear environmental benefit to responsible waste management. And in a world grappling with the effects of climate change, that’s a factor that must be taken into account. The biogas plant is designed to be cleaner than other waste management strategies, and has the potential to power many homes in the region.
And let’s not forget the long term aspect. If the farmers had planned accordingly, they might have had an advantage. Instead of receiving subsidized feed, they could have used their profits to secure their operations with plans for the future. The farmers needed to get their affairs in order, and their failure to do so shows a lack of ingenuity.
Ultimately, it’s a tale of economic evolution. Jack Daniel’s is a business, and it made a business decision. The farmers who had a sweet deal for decades now face the challenge of adapting to a new reality. There is no sympathy when the farmers and their communities are now forced to change. There is no blame on Jack Daniel’s here. The farmers, in the end, are solely responsible for the current issues they face.