Jack Daniel’s Is In Hot Water After Distillery To End Feed Partnership With Tennessee Farmers

No more free/discounted slop for farmers in the Moore County, Tennessee area.

Remember learning about symbiotic relationships in biology class? Where two beings paired up for a long-term, mutually-beneficial partnership? That’s the kind of relationship that Jack Daniel’s Distillery and farmers in Tennessee (specifically in Moore County) have been in for over 50 years.

Jack Daniel’s would provide the corn slop byproduct that resulted from their whiskey production at little to no cost to farmers in what was called the Cow Feeder Program. The distillery was able to easily get rid of waste (farmers would come pick it up and haul it off), and Tennessee farmers would have a cheap way to feed their livestock.

But that’s all unfortunately coming to an end on March 31 of next year.

That’s because Jack Daniel’s Distillery has decided to enter into a partnership with Three Rivers Energy. In order to meet environmental benchmarks, they’ve developed what’s called an “anaerobic digester facility” that will help turn the “slop” into fertilizer and renewable gas. That means that all the “slop” that used to go to local farmers for free will now have to be fed into the digester facility instead.

Though farmers were reportedly given a heads up years in advance (2022 is when Jack Daniel’s first started hinting that the Cow Feeder Program would be discontinued), a spokesperson for Jack Daniels has said that they remain committed to helping their neighbors.

How? Well, that remains to be seen…

Unfortunately, based upon the official statement that Jack Daniel’s provided on the matter, it doesn’t sound like they’ll be reversing course. In their mind, this is a move that’s smarter for them environmentally and financially, and they are in fact a business. It just sucks that the “little guy” is the one that’s often hurt the most by big, corporate moves like this one:

“This decision follows years of careful consideration and was communicated with advance notice, starting with our initial announcement back in March 2022. This evolution is driven by a partnership with Three Rivers Energy that allows us to achieve key environmental standards and secure the future of our brand, ensuring our continued ability to market and sell Jack Daniel’s globally.

Specifically, we are contractually obligated to provide between 350,000 and 500,000 gallons of spent distiller’s grain per day. This commitment necessitates the redirection of all our current volume of ‘slop,’ which is why we must respectfully sunset the Cow Feeder Program for our local farmers. We understand this change is significant, and we remain dedicated to our neighbors as we all adapt to this new era.”

Jack Daniels is already starting to see some negative comments on their social media:

You can hear more on shift in slop by Jack Daniel’s in the local news report below: