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John Deere builds the tractors, combines, and other heavy machines that farmers and construction crews use to do their work.
John Deere is the brand most people picture when they think of a farm: big green tractors rolling across fields. The company, legally Deere & Company, is one of the world's largest makers of agricultural machinery, and it also sells construction equipment like excavators and loaders, plus a smaller business selling engines and parts. Farmers buy its tractors and combines, construction crews buy its yellow machines, and both rely on the company for replacement parts and repairs, which is where a lot of the steady money comes from.
What makes John Deere more than a metal-bending factory is software. Modern Deere machines carry sensors and GPS, and the company sells a service called John Deere Operations Center that lets a farmer see exactly where each machine is, how much fuel it burns, and how well a field is yielding. Precision tools like auto-steering and section control mean a sprayer only puts chemicals where they are needed, which saves farmers money and reduces waste. That connected layer makes Deere's equipment stickier: once a farm's data and habits live inside Deere's system, switching to a rival is a real headache. Deere's rivals in farm equipment are mostly foreign giants such as CNH Industrial and AGCO, while in construction it competes with Caterpillar and Komatsu. Deere is known for a fiercely loyal dealer network and a reputation for reliability built over more than a century; its famous leaping-deer logo started as a blacksmith's trademark in 1876. The company's biggest vulnerability is that its fortunes swing with farm incomes. When crop prices are high, farmers buy shiny new combines; when prices collapse, they fix up the old one instead.
In 1837, a blacksmith named John Deere faced a problem: the rich Midwestern soil stuck to the iron and wooden plows farmers used. So he made one from polished steel that let the dirt slide right off. Then he did something unusual for the time: instead of making equipment only when someone ordered it, he built plows for sale and let customers see the product first, which spread the word fast and turned a blacksmith into an equipment maker.
After more than three decades as a partnership and solo shop, the business was formally incorporated as Deere & Company in 1868. That gave it its lasting name.
In 1918, the board argued over a big bet: keep making horse-drawn plows or put money into gasoline-powered tractors. They chose tractors and bought the Waterloo Boy factory, a move that made tractors the company's flagship product. This rivalry with other machinery makers would shape the industry for decades.
Hard times hit in 1921, forcing mass layoffs, and Waterloo Boy tractor sales collapsed from about five thousand in 1920 to just 79 a year later. The company fought back by building its own branded tractor, the Model D, which launched in 1923 and stayed in production for 30 years.
By 1933, business had stalled and sales plunged to under nine million dollars. Even while losing money, the company chose to keep carrying farmers' debts for as long as it took, a decision that earned deep loyalty from farmers through the Depression.
In 1963, John Deere overtook International Harvester to become the world's largest maker of agricultural and industrial tractors and equipment. That same year it entered the consumer market with lawn and garden tractors, opening a new business line.
In 1982, Robert A. Hanson succeeded William A. Hewitt as chairman, becoming the first company leader from outside the John Deere family. It marked the end of family leadership and a more independent corporate era.
A decade-long U.S. agricultural recession hit production hard, and the workforce fell to about 37,000, down 43 percent from its 1979 peak of roughly 65,000. The downturn forced deep cuts before the farm economy began recovering in 1988.
In 2000, Robert W. Lane became CEO and chairman as Hans Becherer retired. The company also acquired Timberjack, a leading global forestry equipment maker, expanding its forestry business.
In 2017, Deere acquired Blue River Technology for $305 million, a signal that its future would be built on computer vision, machine learning and AI rather than just horsepower and steel. This began the shift toward being seen as a technology-driven company, with a decade-long stock return of 733%.
By 2026, Deere posted its first quarterly profit increase since 2023, driven almost entirely by its construction and forestry segment supplying machinery for AI data-center and infrastructure buildouts, not by tractors or combines. Construction and forestry net sales jumped 18% while the core agriculture segment fell 6%, and the company raised its full-year 2026 net income forecast floor to $4.75 billion. CEO John May called this profit the bottom of the agricultural cycle, with AI construction demand providing a non-cyclical bridge while farming recovers.
The company spends its cash on dividends and share buybacks — it has been buying back stock for years, including a notable recent authorization to repurchase more shares — while also investing in new factories and battery-powered equipment. It has been pushing into electric and autonomous machines, betting that the next generation of farms will be more automated. A recent challenge has been tariffs and trade tensions, which raise the cost of steel and parts and can squeeze margins. Still, John Deere sits in an enviable spot: it sells the tools the world's food supply depends on, and it keeps earning money after the sale through parts, service, and software.
Saved answer · last researched 1 Nov 2026