Dive Brief:
- CNH Industrial is laying off 373 workers from two manufacturing plants as sales continue to decline for farm and construction equipment, a spokesperson confirmed Monday.
- The multinational company notified employees at its Fargo, North Dakota, plant of workforce reductions affecting 198 hourly positions last week, the company said in an emailed statement. Effective layoff dates were not disclosed.
- The reduction is part of a broader cost-cutting effort after CNH announced layoffs at its Benson, Minnesota, production plant last month, affecting 175 workers. Those cuts take effect April 11, according to the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification log.
Dive Insight:
In recent years, agriculture equipment makers have struggled with heavy machinery sales in the U.S. as farmers hold off on big-ticket purchases like tractors and combines. This has forced Deere, CNH and Agco to slow production at their manufacturing plants and work to realign dealer inventories with current demand levels.
CNH, an abbreviation of the brands Case and New Holland, has 14 manufacturing facilities across the U.S., according to its website, with dozens more plants and research and development sites around the world.
A company spokesperson attributed the recent workforce reductions at Fargo and Benson to “current and anticipated market conditions.” They also said CNH is dedicated to supporting affected workers during the transition, but provided no details on what that would look like.
Samantha Harrison, senior program manager at Job Service North Dakota, a division of the state government, wrote in an email that her organization’s Fargo Workforce Center is actively assisting affected workers at CNH. Harrison also noted April 4 as the effective layoff date.
Harrison said the workforce center will be open late for two nights during the second week of April to help workers file for unemployment, search for jobs and workshop resumes. The organization is also hosting a “reverse job fair” at CNH next week, where employers from the area are invited to connect with affected workers for new jobs and opportunities.
Although workers know of the upcoming changes, Harrison said her team has not yet received a WARN notice from CNH about its Fargo layoffs as of Monday.
CNH reported fourth quarter 2024 sales declines of 31% and 33% in its agriculture and construction divisions, respectively, over the same period a year ago. The machinery maker cited lower shipping volumes and decreased industry demand across all regions.
In a recent earnings call, CNH CEO Gerrit Marx said he expects the industry to bottom out sometime this year, potentially without a market upturn.
“It is still too early to say how long we will remain at that level,” Marx said on the Feb. 4 call. Weak commodity prices are pressuring farm incomes, while President Donald Trump’s administration has raised a lot of political uncertainty around renewable fuels, decarbonization and trade.
Looking ahead, Marx said CNH will be paying close attention to any policy shifts and external factors affecting the business. The company is expecting 2025 agriculture sales to decline between 13% and 18% over last year.
“I’m confident that we can thrive in any scenario that might come our way,” he said.
China enacted on Monday retaliatory tariffs on a host of U.S. agricultural imports, including soybeans, corn, wheat and chicken, which could reduce market access and put additional strain on American farmers. Last week, Trump delayed tariffs on certain goods coming from Mexico and Canada, including potash for fertilizer, through April 2.
