-
1918
1918 After years of investigating tractor production, Deere buys the maker of Waterloo Boy tractors. The tractor will soon become the company's basic product. Though 5,634 Waterloo Boys are sold this year, Ford Motor Company sells more than 34,000 Fordson tractors -
1923
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 -
1927
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 -
1933
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, greatly strengthening farmer loyalty -
1934
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. -
1947
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 the "M" bulldozer. -
1950
1950 Agreement with the United Auto Workers on a five-year contract ends a long period of postwar labor unrest. -
1954
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. -
1961
1961 In Saran, near Orleans, France, construction starts on a new engine factory. In Moline, construction begins on the Deere & Company Administrative Center, later renamed Deere & Company World Headquarters -
1963
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 snowblowers -
1966
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. John Deere introduces the first commercially available rollover protective structures for farm tractors, and later releases the patent to the industry without charg -
1972
1972 Four new "Generation II" tractor models with operator enclosures—Sound-Gard bodies—reach the market. Farm equipment sales exceed $1 billion -
1960
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 -
1980
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 -
1994
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 Health Plan centers—primary-health-care providers—open in Waterloo and Des Moines, joining one opened in Moline in 1993 -
2006
2006 Growing global market presence helps drive earnings to record $1.7 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. -
2009
2009 Samuel R. Allen is named John Deere's ninth chief executive officer. A new global operating model combines the technology, expertise, experience, channels, and investments of the Worldwide Agricultural Equipment Division and Worldwide Commercial & Consumer Equipment Division into a single unit called the Agriculture and Turf Division. A joint venture in India is formed with Ashok Leyland Limited to manufacture backhoes and four-wheel-drive loaders -
2011
2011 Deere is listed among the 50 most-admired companies by Fortune magazine and ranked as one of the 100 best global brands by a leading brand-consulting firm. As a sign of the company's emphasis on global growth, sales outside the U.S. and Canada jump by 38%. The company begins work on plants to produce engines, loaders, and ag equipment in China and tractor and combine factories in India. In addition, two factories are planned for Brazil — one for backhoes and wheel loaders, and a joint ventu