John Deere, the world’s largest seller of tractors and crop harvesters, has announced another wave of layoffs Friday, telling around 610 production staff at plants in Illinois and Iowa that they will be out of a job by the end of the summer.
The company is slashing around 280 workers from a plant in East Moline, Illinois, while another 230 employees are being let go at a factory in Davenport, Iowa. About 100 production employees at the company’s Dubuque, Iowa, plant will also be impacted. All layoffs are said to be effective from Aug. 30, the company tells Fox Business.
The layoffs are being made due to reduced demand for John Deere’s products from those factories.
The company says it generated $10.166 billion in profits last year.
“We can confirm Deere leadership recently communicated that rising operational costs and declining market demand requires enterprise-wide changes in how work gets done to achieve our goals and best position the company for the future,” a statement from John Deere reads.
Workers are to be offered Supplemental Unemployment Benefit (SUB) which will cover about 95% of their weekly net pay for up to 26 weeks, depending on their years of service. They are also being given profit-sharing options and health benefits.
Deere, known for its iconic green and yellow colors and jumping deer logo, is one of America’s oldest companies, having been established in 1837, nearly 25 years before the start of the Civil War.
Earlier this month, Deere announced it is moving the manufacturing of skid steer loaders and compact track loaders from its Dubuque facility to Mexico by the end of 2026.
The company said the decision was due to it evolving its business model and to address rising manufacturing costs and improve operational efficiencies.
“This includes optimizing our factories for future products, making our operations more efficient and taking advantage of locations in the U.S. and globally, with a growing labor force,” a statement from the company reads.
In October, John Deere announced its first wave of 225 layoffs at its Harvester Works plant in East Moline. Another 34 production employees were laid off in May at its Moline Cylinder Works factory, while in March, company officials announced that they would lay off 150 more workers at a plant in Ankeny, Iowa, where sprayers and cotton pickers are made.
About 500 employees have been let go at its Waterloo plant in Iowa, per WQAD.
One longtime John Deere worker at the Harvester Works plant in East Moline, blamed the latest announcement on greed.
“We get wind of more layoffs daily, it seems, and it’s causing uncertainty all over,” the worker, who wished to remain anonymous, told The Guardian. “The only reason for Deere to do this is greed.”
Deere & Co’s market capitalization stood around $102.81 billion as of Friday evening. In mid-May, the company said it had generated $27.42 billion in net sales and revenues over the first two quarters of the year. Its net income for the same timeframe was $4.121 billion.
The company recently trimmed its annual profit forecast for the second time and projected steeper declines in sales of large agricultural equipment.
Lower crop prices are leaving agricultural equipment sellers with an excess of unsold tractors and combines, leading some to offer discounts and suspend new orders.
The Department of Agriculture has also forecast farm income would slide 25.5% to $116.1 billion this year from 2023.
The news of layoffs comes amid a report on Wednesday that John Deere CEO John May has put his 80-acre horse farm property up for sale. Its asking price has been set at $3.925 million, according to its listing.
If America is smart, they’ll stop buying products from other countries. Our food comes from other countries. How about producing here? At one time america could have said the world. That’s a big problem because of these woke lunatic Environmentalist climate control clean energy nonsense is all about destroying america. Everything is being given away.Even the electric cars are being made in mexico. I cannot wait for Trump to be re-elected.And I cannot wait for him to bring back farming manufacturing here to the united states of america put america first and the american people. We have farmland owned by China. No foreign country should own land in this country. Globalism new world order wake up people. Shrump is so so white , you may not Like the man , but he lays it out the way it is happening to this Country. Thank you bought and sold Democrats and rinos for destroying america.
Mass layoffs here to go out of country. Next stop. Bankruptcy.
JD made 4 billion but has to move manufacturing to Mexico? That IS just greed. The CEO of Deere should be fired now. It’s bad timing. The company recently announced that their farming equipment could only be serviced by JD dealers and farmers could not work on their own equipment. That and the high prices of JD machines is hurting sales. They have a lot of competition now so they better rethink their business model. I would hate to see JD get sold to some hedge fund or foreign entities.
It is time to boycott John Deere! When Trump is back in the WH John Deere will pay high fees to sell their merchandise back here again