1837- John Deere fashions a polished-steel plow that lets pioneer farmers cut clean furrows through sticky Midwest prairie soil.

1838- John Deere, blacksmith, evolves into John Deere, manufacturer. Later he remembers building 10 plows in 1839, 75 in 1841, and 100 in 1842.

1841- First practical grain drill patented. First emigrant train of covered wagons reaches California. New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio are the chief wheat-growing states.

1842- John Deere adds retailing to his business, filling orders for the Patent Cary Plow.-

1843- Deere and Leonard Andrus become “co-partners in the art and trade of blacksmithing, plow-making and all things thereto…”

1844- John Gould, a partner, on Deere’s work habits: “Hammering in the morning… at four o’clock, and at ten o’clock at night; he had such indomitable determination to… work out what he had in mind.”

1848- The growing plow business moves to Moline, 75 miles southwest of Grand Detour. Moline offers water power and transportation advantages. Deere chooses a new partner, Robert N. Tate, who moves to Moline and raises the rafters on their three-story blacksmith shop by July 28.

1849- A work force of about 16 builds 2,136 plows.

1850- Company called Deere, Tate & Gould

1851- Most one-horse plows sell for $6 to $9. A larger “breaker” sells for $23.

1852- Deere buys out his partners. For the next 16 years, the company is known variously as John Deere, John Deere & Company, Deere & Company, and Moline Plow Manufactory.

1853- Sixteen-year old Charles, Deere’s only living son, joins the firm as a bookkeeper following graduation from a Chicago commercial college.

1854- The railroad reaches Rock Island. Six hours to Chicago, 42 to New York.

1855- Most employees earn 58 cents to $1.50 a day. A speedy piece worker paints 180 plows at a dime each—$18.00 for a week’s work.
1856- The first railroad bridge across the Mississippi River links Rock Island with Davenport.

1857- The improved Clipper Plow has a rolling coulter to cut vegetation, resulting in a clean furrow slice.

1858- The business totters during a nationwide financial panic. Maneuverings to avoid bankruptcy shuffle ownership and managerial arrangements. John Deere remains titular president, but managerial power passes to Charles Deere.

1859- Charles Deere takes over at age 21, and runs the company for 49 years.

1860- Operating now as the Moline Plow Manufactory, Charles Deere signs all advertising literature and promotional literature with his own name.

1861- Civil War begins. Midwest farmers and their suppliers prosper during the war years as Army demand and European crop failures boost crop prices.

1862- Large-scale Midwest farming develops during the war. Farm machinery improves, enabling expansion even by small farmers.

1863- The company makes the Hawkeye Riding Cultivator, the first Deere implement adapted for riding.

1864- John Deere obtains the company’s first actual patent for moulds used in casting steel plows. Another follows in a few months and a third the next year.

1865- Demarius Lamb Deere, John Deere’s wife, dies at age 60. He returns to Vermont, reacquainting himself with Lucenia Lamb, her sister. They marry the next year.

1866- A Civil War legacy is an army of farmers handicapped by severe injuries. Others are hurt in farm accidents. Hawkeye Riding Cultivator advertisements note that “A one-arm or one-legged man can manage it.” Another manufacturer features a sulky plow, “especially adapted for small boys, old men and cripples.”

1867- Charles Deere sues Candee, Swan & Co., a competitor, for trademark infringement. The case has precedent-setting implications for trademark law. Could Deere preempt the word “Moline” which it has been using in its advertising, so that no similar product could incorporate it? The ultimate answer is no. The Walking Cultivator is patented in August 1867. Although farmers might prefer riding, the lower cost of this unit makes it sell even though the man has to walk in soft ground while straddling a row of corn.

1868- After 31 years as a partnership or single proprietorship, the concern is incorporated under the name Deere & Company. There are four shareholders at first, six within a year. Charles and John Deere control 65 percent of the stock.

1869- Charles Deere and Alvah Mansur establish the first branch house, Deere, Mansur & Co., in Kansas City. A semi-independent distributor of Deere products within a certain geographic area, it is the forerunner of the company’s current farm and industrial-equipment sales branches and sales regions.

1870- Five basic product lines dominate the company’s output through the end of the 19th century: plows, cultivators, harrows, drills and planters, and wagons and buggies.

1871- The Order of Patrons of Husbandry — the Grange — gains strength among farmers discontented with low prices and high costs.

1872- Virulent Grange attacks occur throughout the 1870s on the “middleman” (farm-machinery dealer) and the “monopolist” (farm-machinery manufacturer). Some Granges attempt manufacturing, unsuccessfully.

1873- The Panic of 1873, triggered by failure of a New York banking house, begins the depression of the 1870s. John Deere is elected mayor of Moline, and serves two years.

1874 Grasshopper attacks worsen economic conditions of Midwest farmers. Still, the Deere business grows. More than 50,000 plows are sold.

1875- Gilpin Moore develops the Gilpin Sulky Plow. It takes the farmer off his feet, puts him on a seat, and becomes one of the company’s most successful 19th-century products.

1876- Noting sagging business prospects and skyrocketing bad debts, the company institutes a ten-percent wage cut. A brief strike ends and workers return to work on the company’s terms. The “leaping deer” trademark appears.

1877- Deere & Mansur Company is formed in Moline to manufacture corn planters. A separate organization from the similarly named Kansas City branch, it will become part of Deere & Company in 1909.

1878- The Gilpin Sulky Plow defeats 50 other plows in a field trial at the Paris Universal Exposition, winning the first place Sevres vase valued at 1,000 francs. Unit sales the following year rise to 5,198, and reach a height of 7,824 in 1883.

1879- With the success of the Kansas City and St. Louis branch houses, contracts for Deere, Mansur & Company (the St. Louis branch) is renewed with increased capital of $25,000. Branches in Minneapolis, Omaha, Council Bluffs and other locations soon followed across the country.

1880- Wagons enter the product line early in the decade, soon followed by buggies. By century’s end, company catalogs will feature Old Hickory, New Moline, and Mitchell wagons, as well as Derby, Red Star, White Elephant, Victoria, Goldsmith, and Sterling buggies.

1882- Deere & Mansur Company corn planters, employing an innovative rotary planting mechanism, turn a $48,000 profit.

1883- The five best-selling products between 1879 and 1883 are walking plows, Gilpin sulkies, cultivators, shovel plows, and harrows. Walking plows account for more unit sales (224,062) than the other four combined.

1884- Prices decline in the 1870s, 1880s and 1890s.

1886- John Deere dies in Moline at 82.

1887- The company begins to pay health-and-accident benefits to employees.

1888- Steam tractors appear on American farms during the 1880s. Deere makes gang plows that tractors can pull, but not the tractors. The “Steam Age” lasts about 30 years, until the “snorting, puffing giant” is replaced by the gasoline tractor.

1889- The company’s five key branches are in place at Kansas City, St. Louis, Minneapolis, Council Bluffs/Omaha, and San Francisco.

1890- Deere’s board recommends selling the company. A British syndicate and other suitors appear, but deals fall through and the company remains independent. The Sherman Antitrust Act passes. Among other things, it makes price-fixing through trade associations illegal.

1891- By about this time, most farm machinery dependent upon horse power has been discovered.

1892- Charles Deere’s daughter, Katherine, marries William Butterworth, who will succeed him as the company’s CEO. Charles’ daughter, Anna, marries William D. Wiman. Their son, Charles Deere Wiman, will succeed Butterworth.

1893- The Panic of 1893, touched off by a New York stock market crash, begins the worst depression of the 19th century.

1894- A bicycle craze grips the country. Branch catalogs push the Deere Leader, the Deere Roadster, and the Moline Special. The fad fizzles in a few years. (In the 1970s, the company returns briefly to the bicycle business.)

1895- The Furrow debuts. It grows into one of the world’s preeminent farmer’s magazines. As the 20th century ends, it is published in 12 languages and distributed in more than 40 countries. Circulation is more than 1.5 million in 1999.

1898- The Spanish-American War breaks out in April. When it ends in December, Spain has lost Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam, Wake Island, and the Philippines to the US.

1899- Farm crops top American exports throughout the 19th century, never dropping below 65 percent of total exports in any decade, sometimes surpassing 85 percent. The
John Deere Youngblood Driving Buggy is being built in St. Louis. Its lightweight and tall wheels make it easy to be pulled by a single horse, even at a trot.

1900- In the 1899-1900 fiscal year, aggregate business exceeds $2 million for the first time.

1901- Twenty implement makers, including Deere & Company and Deere & Mansur Company, announce plans to combine into the “American Plow Company”. Charles Deere is the driving force, but the proposal collapses.

1902- The three major harvesting manufacturers create the International Harvester Company.

1903- George Mixter, plow-factory superintendent, persuades the company to install extensive environmental controls in the grinding room.

1904- The St. Louis branch territory is split. The Dallas office becomes a full-fledged branch.

1905- For much of the decade, Deere decision-makers ponder responses to the aggressive, acquisitive International Harvester, whose line now includes manure spreaders, wagons, engines, and other products.

1906- Congress passes the Pure Food and Drug Act, and the Meat Inspection Act.

1907- Charles Deere dies. William Butterworth, his son-in-law, becomes CEO. The company establishes a non-contributory pension plan for employees with 20 or more years of service who have passed age 65.

1908- George Washington Carver finds new uses for peanuts, sweet potatoes, and soybeans, thus helping diversify Southern agriculture. The Ford Model T appears, heralding the mass production of automobiles.

1909- With affordable housing for some workers a problem, the company joins with the Deere estate to build 50 homes. By 1920, 315 homes and apartments have been built for employees in Moline and East Moline. Some are sold, and some rented. After WWII, the company builds 111 more houses in Dubuque.

1910- Directors launch a major reorganization. Its goal is a consolidated entity controlled by the Deere & Company board. The plan unifies factories and branches, anticipates acquisitions, and centralizes accounting and financial planning.

1911- Experimental work in the first two decades of the 20th century increases disease-resistant plant varieties, plant yields and quality, and productivity of farm animals strains. For the first time, the company issues 400,000 shares of preferred stock. The shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange the following year.

1912- The modern Deere & Company emerges. It consists of 11 manufacturing entities in the US and one in Canada, and 25 sales organizations—20 in the US, including an export department, and five in Canada. The company also operates a sawmill and owns 41,731 acres of timberland in Arkansas and Louisiana. Harvester Works built in East Moline.

1913- International Harvester executives note that Deere has begun building a harvester factory in East Moline, indicating it intends to compete in IH’s traditional market. Retaliating, they buy two plow manufacturers, thus invading Deere’s traditional turf.

1914- WWI begins. The Clayton Anti-Trust Act outlaws contracts that prohibit purchasers from buying or handling products of a seller’s competitors. Full-line equipment makers like Deere have long pressed dealers not to stock competing products.

1915- New technology poses vexing questions to equipment makers: Is the gasoline engine tractor a major innovation that will be adopted widely? If so, should implement makers buy them from specialist manufacturers or make them themselves?

1916- Competitors enter the growing tractor business. Deere builds experimental and prototype models, but delays decisive action on producing what will become the most important tool of modern agriculture.

1918- Deere buys the maker of Waterloo Boy tractors. The tractor will become its basic product. Though 5,634 Waterloo Boys are sold this year, Ford Motor Company sells 34,167 Fordson tractors. WWI ends; of 1,611 Deere employees who served, 37 died.

1919- Labor turmoil spreads throughout the country. A bitter three-month strike over union recognition breaks out in Waterloo, the most serious employee relations strife Deere has so far experienced. The strike ends with Deere remaining non-union.

1920- The economy nosedives. Farm bankruptcies skyrocket as the “Golden Age” of agriculture ends. Famous names, including General Motors, withdraw from the tractor field. The FTC accuses implement makers of price-fixing.

1921- Bad times continue. As business shrinks, extensive layoffs follow. Waterloo Boy tractor sales plummet incredibly, to 79 from 5,045 the previous year. Wages of those still working are cut at least 10 percent.

1922- Ford Motor Company again cuts tractor prices drastically, as it had in 1921, to attract business during hard times. This time the strategy pays off; Fordson tractor output jumps to almost 67,000 in 1922 from 35,000 in 1921.

1923- Deere launches the Model “D”. A success from the start and the first two-cylinder Waterloo-built tractor to bear the John Deere name, it would stay in the product line for 30 years.

1924- International Harvester introduces the Farmall, a breakthrough in tractor technology. Its design—rear wheels wide apart, front wheels close together—permits tractor cultivation of row crops. By decade’s end, IH builds almost 60 percent of farm tractors.

1925- Design begins on the “GP” (for General Purpose) Tractor, the Deere answer to the Farmall.

1926- Farm surpluses in the 1920s increasingly become an issue. In Detroit, Henry Ford institutes an eight-hour day and five-day work week at his factories.

1927- The company produces a combine, the John Deere No. 2. A year later, catalogs advertise the John Deere No. 1, a smaller, more popular machine. By 1929, the No. 1 and No. 2 are replaced by newer, lighter-weight versions.

1928- William Butterworth is elected President of the US Chamber of Commerce. Primary company managerial authority passes to Charles Deere Wiman.

1929- The “GP” Wide-Tread, a row-crop tractor, enters the market. It is the first Deere tractor with a tricycle front to fit between two crop rows, and rear axle wide enough so wheels can straddle two rows.

1930 Consolidations leave only seven full-line farm equipment companies: John Deere, IH, Case, Oliver, Allis-Chalmers, Minneapolis-Moline, and Massey-Harris. Deere and IH dominate most product categories.

1931- A $1.2 million embezzlement at People’s Savings Bank in Moline, Illinois — “Deere’s bank” — threatens closure and loss of employee savings. The company writes a check to cover the loss. The bank survives.

1932- The Great Depression hardens, forcing massive layoffs, pay and pension cuts, shortened hours, and a temporary end to paid vacations. A 1920s savings innovation, the Thrift Plan, eases the burden for some employees. John Deere continues group insurance for the unemployed, lowers rent in company housing, and starts “make work” projects.

1933- Business is almost at a standstill. Sales plunge to $8.7 million. Though it is losing money, the company decides to carry debtor farmers as long as necessary, greater strengthening farmer loyalty.

1934- Despite the Depression, the company emphasizes product development. The Model “A” Tractor enters production. A similar but smaller Model “B” follows in 1935. They become the most popular tractors in the company’s history, remaining in the product line until 1952.

1935- John Deere, strong in wheeled tractors, and Caterpillar, dominant in tracked tractors, join forces to sell each other’s products, especially in California. Strong at first, the link weakens with time, breaking finally in the mid-1960s.

1936- The Agricultural Adjustment Act and other New Deal farm legislation helps farmers recover from Depression effects. Farm-equipment sales bounce back from their lows.

1937- At the beginning of the decade, only 13 percent of farms have electricity. By decade’s end, after passage of the Rural Electrification Act, the total rises to 33 percent. Not until the 1960s would virtually all farms have electricity.

1938- Industrial designer Henry Dreyfuss, working with Deere engineers, streamlines the “A” and “B” Tractors. Henceforth, concern for attractive design joins traditional utilitarian values as hallmarks of John Deere products.

1939- WWII begins. Model “L” Series Tractors, built at Wagon Works in Moline, 1936 to 1946, enjoy an enormous boost in sales after Henry Dreyfuss’ styling.

1940- Mechanization advances. American farms grow larger; the farm labor force shrinks. As the decade dawns, some 1.6 million farm tractors are in use, almost double the 1930 total.

1941- The US enters WWII. “Limitation orders” restrict civilian production of farm equipment, repair parts and exports. (By 1944, with the tide of war turning toward the Allies, limitations on civilian production end.)

1942- Charles Deere Wiman accepts a commission as an Army colonel. Burton Peek succeeds him as interim company president. Before returning to Deere in 1944, Wiman briefly directs the farm machinery and equipment division of the War Production Board.

1943- Deere makes military tractors, ammunition, aircraft parts, and cargo and mobile laundry units during the war. About 4,500 employees serve in the military, some in the “John Deere” Battalion, a specialized ordnance group that sees service in Europe.

1944- Price controls and food rationing affect families in the US between 1942 and 1946. Frozen foods are popularized.

1945- Traditional company paternalism ebbs as John Deere factory workers endorse unions. Collective bargaining over wages and working conditions replaces a 105-year-old pattern of dealing with workers individually.

1946- With wartime controls lifted, nationwide labor relations enter a tumultuous period. Frequent strikes ensue as management and labor test each other’s strength.

1947- The new John Deere Dubuque Works builds the Model “M” Tractor. Two years later, equipped with a tracked undercarriage, the “M” becomes available as a crawler, called the “MC”. This will herald the Worldwide Construction Equipment Division. When a front blade is added, it becomes a bulldozer.

1948- The Deere Des Moines Works beats swords into plowshares. A former ammunition plant acquired from the government, it turns out cotton pickers and cultivating tools. Eventually it will also build plows.

1949- Deere’s first diesel-powered unit, the model “R” Tractor, enters production.

1950- Agreement with the United Auto Workers on a five-year contract ends a long period of postwar labor unrest.

1951- The board appropriates funds for a small factory in Scotland, but in the end, terminates the project. Once before, consideration was given to manufacturing outside North America. In 1909 the board declined to act on a proposal for a Russian plow factory.

1952- A Federal court dismisses an antitrust suit against Deere & Company. The government had charged Deere, IH, and JI Case with illegally selling farm machinery to dealers on condition that they refuse to handle competing makes.

1953- The Model 70 is launched as the largest row-crop tractor to date. Initially available with gasoline, all-fuel, or LP-gas engine, it will become the first diesel row-crop tractor.

1954- Engineers develop a highly successful 2-row corn head. Attached to a new Model 45 Combine, it enables a farmer to pick, shell, and clean up to 20 acres of corn a day in a single operation.

1955- William A. Hewitt is elected president and later CEO following the death of
Charles Deere Wiman, his father-in-law. He will direct the company for the next 27 years, the last representative of the Deere family to do so.

1956- The firm steps toward becoming a multinational manufacturer. The company decides to build a small-tractor assembly plant in Mexico and buy a majority interest in a German tractor and harvester maker with a small presence in Spain. In the next few years, it will move into France, Argentina, and South Africa.

1957- Six-row planters and cultivators, John Deere innovations, reach the market. They provide 50 percent more planting and cultivating capacity for row-crop farmers in corn- and cotton-producing areas.

1958- The John Deere Credit Company, financier of domestic purchases of John Deere equipment, begins operations.

1959- The company brings out the 8010, a diesel-powered, 215-horsepower, 10-ton Goliath – the largest tractor it has ever built. Only a few are sold. Soviet Premier Krushchev visits the Des Moines Works.

1960- Four “New Generation of Power” tractor models steal the show at Deere Day in Dallas. Some 6,000 attend the sales meeting, including all U.S. and Canadian dealers.

1961- A new tractor and implement manufacturing plan nears completion in Rosario, Argentina. In Saran, near Orleans, France, construction starts on a new engine factory. In Moline, construction begins on the Deere & Company Administrative Center.

1962- John Deere marks its 125th anniversary. Construction begins on a product-engineering center at Dubuque, Iowa. Company buys a majority interest in South African Cultivators, a farm implement firm near Johannesburg.

1963- John Deere surpasses IH to become the world’s largest producer and seller of farm and industrial tractors and equipment. The company ventures into the consumer market, deciding to produce and sell lawn and garden tractors plus some attachments such as mowers and snow blowers.

1964- The Deere & Company Administrative Center opens. Designed by Eero Saarinen, it will win many architectural awards. Goals of the company and the principles behind its basic policies and procedures are outlined in the “Green Bulletins”.

1965- The John Deere Chemical Company, a fertilizer producer, is sold. It had been a subsidiary since 1962.
1966 A banner year. Total sales surpass $1 billion for the first time. Earnings reach a high of $78.7 million. Farm equipment sales set a record for the fourth straight year. Industrial equipment sales notch their largest ever year-to-year increase. Lawn and garden equipment sales rise 76 percent. Worldwide employment hits a record.

1967- The first industrial equipment sales branch opens in Baltimore.

1968- Color options appear for lawn and garden tractors. For a short time, traditional green and yellow are supplemented by dogwood white, and, for hood and trim, patio red, sunset orange, April yellow, and spruce blue.

1969- Overall sales level out due primarily to a downturn in farm equipment sales. Overseas operations expand but do not produce profits. The John Deere Insurance Group is created.

1970- Deere reorganizes its management structure to reflect growing diversification. Three operating divisions emerge: Farm Equipment and Consumer Products, U.S. and Canada; Farm Equipment and Consumer Products, Overseas; and Industrial Equipment, which has worldwide responsibilities.

1971- “Nothing Runs Like a Deere” advertises snowmobiles, a new product of the
John Deere Horicon Works. The slogan lasts far longer than the snowmobile line, which is sold in 1984.

1972- Deere and Italian conglomerate Fiat end negotiations on a join venture that would have encompassed Deere’s overseas operations. Four new “Generation II” tractor models with operator enclosures—Sound-Gard bodies—reach the market. Farm equipment sales exceed $1 billion.

1973- Crop failures outside North America spur massive foreign buying of American grain. Commodity prices spurt. Farmers prosper; equipment demand erupts. John Deere total sales top $2 billion for the first time. Board decides to move towards more independent board as the first outside director is appointed.

1974- Unprecedented demand for John Deere products, especially farm equipment, continues, but capacity and other shortages appear. Inflation increases costs. The company starts its largest expansion program. More than $1 billion will be spent on new facilities by 1979.

1975- The John Deere Davenport Works, located in Davenport, Iowa, comes on-line, manufacturing industrial-equipment components.

1976- Equipment gets bigger, increasing farm productivity. Tractors average 40 percent more horsepower and 44 percent more weight than in 1970. Sales of both farm and industrial equipment triple and consumer-products sales soar fivefold since 1966.

1977- Agreement with Japanese manufacturer Yanmar authorizes sale of small tractors under the John Deere name. An updated Product Engineering Center is established in Waterloo. A stock-purchase plan for salaried employees begins.

1978- The award-winning West Office Building addition to the Administrative Center, designed by Kevin Roche, Eero Saarinen’s successor, opens. Also new: Canadian headquarters in Grimsby, Ontario; John Deere Engine Works in Waterloo; and Atlanta sales branch offices.

1979- Employment reaches an all-time high of 65,392. Sales top $5 billion, earnings $310 million, both records.

1980- A 4-row cotton picker, an industry first, is introduced. Field tests indicate it will increase an operator’s productivity by 85 to 95 percent.

1981- The John Deere Tractor Works in Waterloo becomes fully operational. It wins an award for excellence in using computers in U.S. manufacturing.

1982- Robert A. Hanson succeeds retiring Chairman William A. Hewitt.

1983- Severe recession following rampant 1970s inflation crimps the need and ability of farmers and builders to invest in new equipment. Difficult business conditions continue through most of the decade.

1984- With cost reduction a priority, the company looks inward. Flexible manufacturing, CAD-CAM (computer aided design and manufacturing), employee participation, cellular manufacturing, total waste elimination, group technology, and just-in-time become familiar procedures. Deere acquires Farm Plan Corporation, an agribusiness financier.

1985- John Deere Health Care, Inc. is formed. Its subsidiary, Heritage National Healthplan, grows by century’s end into a health-care provider for more than 700 employers and over 400,000 members in five states.

1986- A 163-day labor strike in the United States severely impacts production. Employment at years end totals 37,481, down 43 percent from the 1979 high of 65,392. For the remainder of the century, employment will remain below 40,000.

1987- Deere celebrates its 150th anniversary. Continued low farm income and lower Deere sales lead to a net loss of $99 million.

1988- The economy rebounds after six years of recession during which weaker farmers, dealers, and equipment companies go out of business. Deere & Company sales soar 30 percent from 1987. Profit, following two years of losses, exceeds $315 million, a record. A joint venture is formed with Japanese company Hitachi to assemble excavators in the United States.

1989- The dividend, cut in 1982, is restored to its previous level. Funk Manufacturing Company, maker of powertrain components, is acquired.

1990- Hans W. Becherer, president since 1987 and CEO since 1989, is elected chairman upon the retirement of Robert Hanson.

1991- Lawn-and-grounds-care equipment operations in the US and Canada become a separate division. Since 1970 they had been part of the farm-equipment operations. The company acquires SABO, a European maker of lawn mowers.

1992- A program is launched to encourage installation of rollover protective structures and seat belts on older tractors. In 1966, John Deere introduced the first commercially available rollover protective devises for farm tractors, later releasing the patent to the industry without charge. The company establishes eight Strategic Business Units for the first time.

1993- New 5000, 6000, and 7000 Series Tractors drive up market shares in North America and Europe. Among 20 contenders in Germany, Deere moves from third to first place in tractor sales. Lawn-and-garden-equipment sales top $1 billion for the first time.

1994- Deere acquires Homelite, a leading producer of handheld outdoor power equipment. It arranges with Zetor, a Czech company, to provide a simple, small tractor for developing markets. Deere Family Healthplan centers—primary-health-care providers—open in Waterloo and Des Moines, joining one opened in Moline in 1993.

1995- Deere’s strong performance “shows that Deere & Company has become a new company in every important sense”, according to the Annual Report. Among reasons cited: product technology leadership, strong emphasis on quality, and improved cost structure and asset management.

1996- Four mid-priced lawn tractors and two walk-behind mowers branded “Sabre by
John Deere” expose company products to a broad new market. They’re designed to be sold through national retailers and home centers as well as John Deere dealers.

1997- Overseas sales top $3 billion, more than the company’s entire sales total prior to the mid-1970s. The company obtains an equity position in a Chinese combine company. The John Deere Pavilion, with equipment exhibits and interactive displays, opens in downtown Moline.

1998- Despite late-year weakness in the farm sector, agricultural-equipment sales hit a record. Company net earnings reach $1 billion for the first time. Cameco Industries, producer of sugarcane-harvesting equipment, is acquired. Work begins on a new tractor-manufacturing facility in Pune, India.

1999- While challenging by financial standards, 1999 is a breakthrough year for John Deere. Not only does the company record a meaningful profit in the face of a major downturn in the farm economy, but the actions of recent years to create a more-resilient world-class enterprise successfully faced their first severe test. Special Technologies Group is formed.

2000- Hans Becherer reaches retirement, and Robert W. Lane is elected CEO. Deere acquires Timberjack, a world-leading producer of forestry equipment. A new tractor plant is opened near Pune, India. Credit offices are established in Argentina and Brazil. Deere is granted banking license in Luxembourg, allowing John Deere Credit ability to finance equipment throughout Europe.

2001- A record number of products are introduced to strengthen Deere’s global competitive position. John Deere Landscapes is formed through acquisitions of McGinnis Farms and Century Rain Aid.

2002- Business Ethics magazine names John Deere one of its 100 Best Corporate Citizens for 2002. Crain’s Chicago Business announces that John Deere is the most trusted Illinois company, based on a nationwide survey.

2003- Through agreement with The Home Depot, riding mowers are sold in the mass channel for the first time in company history. John Deere-branded Deere’s small/diverse supplier programs received a first-ever rating of “highly successful” from the U.S. Department of Defense. Driven by gains in Deere’s Commercial & Consumer Equipment and Construction & Forestry Divisions, the company’s earnings double for 2003; equipment sales grow 14 percent.

2004- Record full-year earnings of $1.406 billion are more than twice the level of 2003 earnings. Deere & Company announces plans to build a new tractor factory in Montenegro, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. The facility is expected to be in full production by the second half of 2006.

2005- Deere & Company opens a seeding-equipment assembly operation in Orenburg, Russia, and establishes a dealer network. The company additionally announces plans to build a new engineering and information-technology support center near the John Deere joint venture tractor manufacturing facility in Pune, India. John Deere invests in wind energy projects in the rural United States and establishes a new wind energy business unit managed by John Deere Credit.

2006- Growing global market presence helps drive earnings to record $1.69 billion; Chairman & CEO Robert W. Lane named “CEO of the Year” by Industry Week magazine. John Deere Landscapes becomes the number-one wholesale distributor of irrigation, nursery, lighting and landscape materials in the United States. John Deere Tianjin Works, a new transmission factory in Tianjin, China, opens.

2007- Deere & Company stockholders approve a two-for-one stock split, increasing the number of common shares to 1,200 million shares. A new tractor manufacturing facility is acquired in Ningbo, China. Deere & Company completes its acquisition of LESCO, Inc., a leading supplier of lawn care, landscape, golf course and pest control products. John Deere is chosen by Ethisphere magazine for its list of the World’s 100 Most Ethical Companies.