The pandemic sparked a homesteading renaissance. Now, Tractor Supply is meeting high demand for livestock and gardening tools from cooped-up rural shoppers.

<p><em><img src="https://static1.businessinsider.com/image/5fd139a2240ebd00126be0bd-1498/2.png" border="0" alt="tractor supply" data-mce-source="ine Cain / Business Insider"></em></p><bi-shortcode id="summary-shortcode" data-type="summary-shortcode" class="mceNonEditable" contenteditable="false">Summary List Placement</bi-shortcode><p>After the year 2020 turned out to be, it's not hard to see why some consumers have embraced homesteading, a lifestyle that promotes self-sufficiency. Being able to pluck vegetables from a family garden or collect chicken eggs from a backyard coop is appealing in a world made all the more uncertain by the coronavirus pandemic.</p><p>Individuals embracing a homesteading lifestyle might also hone techniques to preserve food storessuch as the canning of goods at homeor create their own homemade garments. In fact, plenty of <a href="https://www.wksu.org/community/2020-05-04/homesteading-and-going-off-the-grid-gain-popularity-amid-coronavirus-pandemic">retailers</a> have pointed to surging sales of products like chicken feed, gardening supplies, and materials for do-it-yourself home projects as <a href="https://avenuemagazine.com/hamptons-homesteading-farming-gardening-trend/">indicators</a> of a <a href="https://spectrumnews1.com/ky/lexington/news/2020/08/18/homesteading-gaining-popularity">homesteading</a> renaissance.&nbsp; &nbsp;</p><p>The Tractor Supply Company is one retailer stepping up to meet the demand. The Brentwood, Tennessee-based company boasts 1,904 locations in <a href="https://corporate.tractorsupply.com/newsroom/news-releases/news-releases-details/2020/Tractor-Supply-Company-Reports-Record-Third-Quarter-2020-Financial-Results-and-Details-Life-Out-Here-Strategy/default.aspx" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="20" data-uri="138d176fadbb44ec1f609e36b578299e">49 states</a>, as of September 2020, having opened 61 new stores this year. Between September 2019 and September 2020, Tractor Supply has also sold $9.9 billion worth of products, it said. That's an 18% year-over-year spike.</p><p>In terms of its customer base, the company says it's drawn in 10 million new or re-engaged shoppers in the second and third quarters of 2020 alone. Tractor Supply's stores tend to be located outside of big cities, as they largely serve rural shoppers.</p><p>This reporter visited one location in Franklin, Indiana, and found a small, unadorned store stocked with merchandise around activities like farming, hunting, and raising livestock, along with robust hardware and outdoor work apparel sections.</p><p>Seth Estep, Tractor Supply's chief merchandising officer, stressed that Tractor Supply stores have come to be a one-stop-shop for many rural consumers.</p><p>"If you go back to our core shopper, we always say that at Tractor, we serve a lifestyle," Estep said. "And in many cases, the lifestyle we serve is a mindseta self-reliant mindset.&nbsp;If you really think about that whole homesteading phenomenon that's going on right now, particularly in this COVID environment, that kind of mentality is something that really has just been a right up our alley."</p><p>Estep, who took on his new role in February after 13 years at the company, called out two particular kinds of products that are currently enjoying soaring sales: chicken feed and pet supplies. Pet adoption rates are currently <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-pets-make-your-life-better-2019-7" data-analytics-module="body_link" data-analytics-post-depth="60">rising</a>, with many consumers bringing new pets home during the pandemic. Estep added that Tractor Supply shoppers' embrace of homesteading also coincides with a desire to partake in more family activities like planting vegetable gardens, raising chickens and household pets, and tackling outdoor home projects.&nbsp;</p><p>And the strong sales around products pertaining to pets and livestock indicate that "it's a trend that's not going away anytime soon," he said, adding that about half of the customers who purchased chickens directly from Tractor Supply were new to the backyard poulterer hobby. What's more, Tractor Supply is also seeing more longtime consumers "cross-shop." Hobbyists that tended to focus on one category are now "filling their baskets with items across the store's four walls."</p><p>"We've always gone after this backward poulterer, but now you have people who always had a garden say, 'You know whatlet's get into backyard poultry,'" Estep said. "When you think about modern homesteading, it really is just creating your own space wherever you live, whether you have one acre or a hundred acres."</p><p><strong>SEE ALSO:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/5-retailers-winning-big-during-pandemic-ecommerce-workforce-real-estate-2020-11" >5 retailers not named Amazon or Walmart that have quietly flourished during the pandemic by growing e-commerce, staff size, and total store footprint</a></strong></p><p><strong>DON'T MISS:&nbsp;<a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/costco-mcdonalds-apocalypse-best-and-worst-retailers-2019-2" >These are the bestand worststores for riding out the apocalypse</a></strong></p><p><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/tractor-supply-homesteaders-embrace-gardens-chickens-2020-12#comments">Join the conversation about this story &#187;</a></p> <p>NOW WATCH: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/robotic-farm-uses-90-less-water-than-traditional-farming-2018-10">This robotic farm uses 90% less water than traditional farming</a></p>
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