Panicked Tennessee farmers are selling farms as Jack Daniels ends its free corn slop program

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

Tennessee Farmers Panicking After Jack Daniel’s Ends 45-Year Program Of Free Cattle Feed
https://brobible.com/culture/article/farmers-panicked-jack-daniels-ending-45-year-free-cattle-feed-program-tennessee/

After 45 years of a free cattle feed program run by Jack Daniel’s where livestock farmers in Moore County, Tennessee were able to use the “stillage” leftovers (corn, rye, barley), Jack Daniel’s is ending the program to partner with an energy company.
According to reports from local news outlets, panicked livestock farmers are already selling their land out of fear they will be unable to afford their operations going forward without the free cattle feed program ran by Jack Daniel’s for nearly half a century.


Terry Holtz has been making that daily drive from his farm to the distillery since he was just 20 years old. Holz told News Channel 5 “I’ve been at it 365 days (a year)… multiply it times 45 (years), (that’s how) many days I’ve hauled it… I don’t miss any day.”

As the farmers lose the Free Cattle Feed program, Jack Daniel’s has partnered with Three Rivers Energy. They are a local energy plant that “converts the slop into renewable gas and fertilizer.”

That is, of course, good for the surrounding region but for different reasons. It sounds like Three Rivers is producing sustainable clean energy and fertilizer that will be repurposed in the surrounding areas, albeit not for free. And they are presumably paying Jack Daniel’s for the ‘slop’ that farmers were feeding to their cattle.

[Champp]

1. Republicans are really messing with the farm and food chain

They are at war not just with facts and "unapproved ideas" but against America.

Shitty evil.

[Ms. Toad]

12. Were Republicans i in charge when Jack Daniels announced the end to this program nearly 2 years ago?

Monday’s announcement bookends one the distillery originally made back in March 2022 – essentially giving local farmers over two year’s notice.

https://www.bedfordcountypost.com/sun-sets-on-jacks-feeder-cow-program/

[Celerity]

2. Link please. TIA

[BlueWaveNeverEnd]

3. Here

https://brobible.com/culture/article/farmers-panicked-jack-daniels-ending-45-year-free-cattle-feed-program-tennessee/

[Vinca]

4. I'm sure Dear Leader will weigh in. Can't support renewable energy. He'll sign one of his decrees ordering

Jack Daniel's to reverse course and give him a piece of the action or close shop.

[Scrivener7]

5. But Cankles is the one who took away Jack Daniels's Canadian market

via tariffs and forced them to look for other sources of income.

Once again, this is on him.

[Champp]

9. Yes. You are connecting the Republican dots (aka turds)

Thank you.

[Ms. Toad]

13. The end to the program was announced in March 2022.

Monday’s announcement bookends one the distillery originally made back in March 2022 – essentially giving local farmers over two year’s notice.

https://www.bedfordcountypost.com/sun-sets-on-jacks-feeder-cow-program/

[Prairie Gates]

17. A little more research: the 2022 announcement forecasted a continued Cow Feeder Program

Back in 2022, based on the numbers and the forecasted growth, distillery officials anticipated enough spent distiller grains to supply 3 Rivers Energy Partners, continue to dry grain operations, and continue the Cow Feeder Program.

It’s a case of too much, and then not enough.

On Monday, Jack Daniel Senior Vice President General Manager Melvin Keebler admitted that the situation looks very different today than it did back in 2022, according to one local farmer we talked to who attended the meeting.

And he’s right. In the first quarter of Fiscal 2025, which ended on July 31, Brown-Forman reported a three percent net sales decrease overall, including declines in Jack Daniel Tennessee Whiskey with volume in the U.S. down around four percent in some markets, according to a Brown-Forman press release.

Nearly all industry experts agree the American whiskey market in general is shrinking for varied reasons. One, Gen Z and Millennials drink less overall and drink fewer distilled spirits. Two, those consumers who continue to drink alcohol have become more cost-conscious. Third, Brown-Forman has repeatedly cited tariffs/trade conflicts as a drag on growth, especially in big markets like the EU, UK, and Canada. (Emphasis added)

[...]

That decreased production and the contractual obligations to 3 Rivers Energy Partners will result in major changes to the “slop haulers” allotments as of October 1.

Tullahoma New link

The problem is that Jack Daniels then expected growth, and enough slop to service their 3 Rivers deal AND the Cow Feeder Program. But then sales and production slowed, so now they have to service the 3 Rivers program per agreement, which leaves nothing over for the Cow Feeder Program. And yes, tariffs had something to do with that, as the article here makes clear.

[DenaliDemocrat]

6. Ethanol is NOT clean

And anyone who lives in the corn belt understands the ecological impact ethanol has on our environment. It’s a monoculture, uses tons of water, lots of herbicides, destroys CRP ground.

This is not good.

[Disaffected]

11. May well be but

this article is about using leftovers rather than the raw material.

[Phoenix61]

7. Tariffs have hit Jack Daniel's. Canadians won't touch it.

[JT45242]

8. Can you imagine getting one of your most critical business inputs for free for 45 years with no contingency plan?

How do you not save/budget for the day that you might actually pay for supplies.

Of course, I am reminded of the line from Hamilton

Your debts are paid 'cause you don't pay for labour
We plants seeds in the south we create
Yeah keep ranting, we know who's really doing the planting


What hasn't been subsidized by the distillery (for tax breaks) has been subsidized by government handouts for years.

FAFO MAGAt farmers.

[Prairie Gates]

10. Pretty much any serious brewery or distillery has to get rid of its "slop"

Many of them partner with farmers, who haul it away, which is a service, and certainly stretches the definition of "free." Like the man said, he had to drive his ass up there, load his truck, and drive back to his farm - all of which involves labor and expense. Jack Daniels, for its part, gets the leftovers of its distilling process removed from its premises. Otherwise it would just pile up and up and they'd have to pay for its removal. So, it's more or less a barter of a good (slop/feed) for a service (removal). Any mid-sized brewery does the same with local farmers.

What happened here is simply that Jack Daniels received a better offer: they get the removal and probably direct payment for the good. A few points, though:

1) The local cattle farmers could not form a collective to counter Three Rivers price.
2) The local cattle farmers assumed that the deal would always be the same, and did not anticipate the threat of the arrangement being superseded by a payment scheme. That's just bad business. They are incompetent businesspeople. I suspect if they had a strong agricultural extension through their landgrant universities, somebody would have trained them to develop a SWOT analysis that included their input costs, but sadly their state universities seem to be more interested in filling football stadiums and eliminating diversity programs. Oh well.
3) The local cattle farmers live so close to their margins that they can't sustain a modest increase in input costs. That's bad business as well. It may also be an effect of tariffs, as beef sales to tariff countries are decreasing precipitously. Hey, they voted for it!
4) Jack Daniels may also be seeking revenue as a result of tariffs. Notably, their markets for US-produced whiskey have collapsed in Canada, previously a giant buyer, and in other areas as well. The tariffs may be forcing Jack Daniels to seek this new source of revenue to fill in the holes left by those collapsing markets.

All of which is to say, nice job, Trumpy! And enjoy, Tennessee!

[Ms. Toad]

15. At least 2 of your points are based on a faulty premise - that this is a post-trump termination

It was announced in March 2022.

[Prairie Gates]

16. To be fair

1. That's the Jack Daniels' PR version. Here's what another site said: "2022 is when Jack Daniel’s first started hinting that the Cow Feeder Program would be discontinued" (Link, emphasis added). Was it a done deal until recently? Not sure. The sudden proliferation of these news stories from September 29 to October 2 suggests that it has hit some of these people as a surprise development, despite the Jack Daniels statement.

2. I said "may," so the last two points were actually qualified.

3. If it was a done deal in 2022, then these farmers are even dumber and more incompetent than the story lets on!

[Prairie Gates]

18. At this point I'm going to note that the situation is more complex, but I stand by my initial points

which remain, in my view, correct. In 2022, JD announced the partnership with 3 Rivers, but anticipated the continuation of the Cow Feeder Program. This year, and in the last week, they specified that they could not service both the contract with 3 Rivers and the Cow Feeder Program due to decreased production, at least one factor for which is likely reduction in markets due to tariffs (no doubt, general pain in the sector as a result of decreased drinking is also important).

The post above provides the full information: https://democraticunderground.com/100220691697#post17

[Paladin]

14. Like the secretary of war said, farmers: "FAFO." (nt)

[Clouds Passing]

19. The entire world could do without Jack Daniels