Deere & Co. is making more job cuts as the tractor maker intentionally looks to underproduce farm machinery in a challenging market.
Approximately 190 production workers at Deere’s Waterloo operations in northeast Iowa were notified by management of layoffs Monday morning, a spokesperson said in an email to Agriculture Dive.
The cuts, slated to take effect June 22, come just days after Deere lowered its fiscal 2024 earnings outlook to better reflect declining demand. Deere is intentionally slowing production as high interest rates make it difficult for farmers to finance tractors, lawnmowers and other farm equipment.
Deere’s Waterloo operations manufacture some of the company’s largest tractors, including the 7, 8 and 9 series models, as well as diesel engines and drive trains. Currently, Deere has about 5,200 employees, with about 3,300 working production and maintenance jobs in the city.
Recently, Deere has cut 500 employees from its Waterloo Works facility after slashing more than 300 positions in March, according to Iowa’s WARN log as of Monday. The company has also laid off 150 positions from its Des Moines Works facility and close to three dozen from a plant in Illinois.
Equipment sales totaled $13.61 billion, a 15% decline over last year. In response to growing levels of retail inventory, Deere will strategically underproduce machinery in the back half of the year, executives said on an earnings call last week.
Although operating margins are at healthy levels, Josh Jepsen, Deere’s senior vice president and chief financial officer, said there’s “always opportunity to do better, and we’ll continue to take action on costs throughout the remainder of the year while still investing in our future.”
