Tractor giant John Deere has faced a storm of criticism after the company announced it would lay off hundreds of workers in the Midwest, even though it still operates a manufacturing center in Mexico.
The Illinois company, the world’s largest seller of large tractors and other farm equipment, last week notified hundreds of workers in Iowa that they had lost their jobs.
According to Hoosier Ag Today, about 100 people will come from the Dubuque plant.
Earlier this month, John Deere announced it would cut 600 jobs at three factories in Illinois and Iowa.
The company announced plans to cut 28 jobs at a plant in East Moline, Illinois, and 230 workers at its Davenport, Iowa, facility.
“As the largest global manufacturer of agricultural equipment, John Deere, like many others, is facing significant economic challenges, rising operating and manufacturing costs and weaker customer demand, including a 20 percent decline in sales from 2023 to 2024,” the company said in a statement.
The reaction on social media was devastating.
“I can’t believe an American legacy company like @JohnDeere is laying off Americans to take those jobs to Mexico. That’s wrong. They should go bankrupt for that alone,” said an X user.
Another X user wrote: “John Deere should stop pretending to be an American company and embrace American values. They’re not and they don’t.”
The Post has asked John Deere for comment.
Last month, the company announced it would move production of skid-steer loaders and compact track loaders from its Dubuque plant to Mexico by the end of 2026.
Cory Reed, president of Deere & Co.’s global agriculture and turf division for manufacturing and precision farming in North and South America and Australia, told U.S. Farm Report that the Mexico facility has been in operation for nearly 70 years and is “an important part of our global footprint.”
Reed defended the layoffs, saying they were necessary to weather economic headwinds.
“The expectation is that farm net income is going to fall somewhere between 20 and 30 percent. And when that happens and commodity prices are down, interest rates are a little bit higher and we see some unpredictability in the weather, that creates uncertainty that disrupts demand,” Reed said.
“We are experiencing that today. If we look at our entire sector, we expect to be behind by about 20% year-on-year from 2023 onwards.”
John Deere said it made $10.2 billion in profit last year, up 42% from 2022.
Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission show that CEO John May earned a total of $26.7 million in compensation, up from $20.3 million in 2022.
Earlier this month, John Deere announced it would scale back its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives following a pressure campaign from conservative social media influencer Robby Starbuck.
Meanwhile, the industrial boom that heralded the end of the coronavirus pandemic appears to have lost steam as U.S. companies brace for a prolonged recession amid rising inflation, high interest rates, rising operating costs and weaker demand for raw materials.
Polaris, the maker of all-terrain vehicles and motorcycles, recently reported a 49% drop in quarterly revenue, forcing the company to cut back on deliveries to dealers.
Michael Speetzen, the company’s CEO, told analysts last week that consumers are spending less on discretionary spending.
“Retail sales are turning out to be weaker than anyone expected,” he said.