“Nothing Runs Like a Deere” – a slogan that is familiar to agricultural workers around the world. That’s because John Deere is the world’s leading manufacturer of agricultural machinery. Its tractors, combine harvesters, sprayers, planters and other farming essentials are instantly recognisable thanks to their distinctive green paintwork (finished with a yellow trim) and classic ‘running deer’ logo.

The business that we now know as John Deere was established in 1837 by the eponymous Mr Deere, initially serving as a general repair business – though it also manufactured small tools. The company had already began to experiment with larger pieces of equipment, however, with John Deere (the founder) having pioneered a cast-steel plough a year before establishing his now-famous farming equipment manufacturing business.

Sales of the plough were slow to begin with, but profits began to pick up after the company started to manufacture units before orders were placed. As soon as customers were able to view the product before they made a purchase, word of the plough spread quickly.

Production moved into a factory in 1842. Known at the time as the “L. Andrus Plough Manufacturer”, after Leonard Andrus – a then business partner of Mr Deere – it produced around 100 ploughs in its first year and approximately 400 ploughs in 1843. The business relocated again in 1848 to Moline, Illinois, where Deere went into partnership with John Gould and Robert Tate to form the Deere, Tate and Gould Company.
The business was known by this name until 1868, when it became Deere & Company. By this time, the founder’s son, Charles, had taken on the day-to-day running of the business. By the time John Deere died in 1886, the company had moved on from simply manufacturing ploughs, and now also produced corn planters, cultivators and wagons. It even – briefly – manufactured bicycles in the 1890s.

By the 20th Century John Deere was selling its products across America. However, it faced increasing competition from the International Harvester Company – an infant in the world of agricultural manufacturing, having been founded in 1902. To counteract this competition, the company expanded its product range even further, offering more agricultural implements. The product that would become synonymous with the company in the 20th Century, however, was the petrol tractor.

The company began to dip its toes into the tractor business in the early part of this century. Charles Deere had died in 1907, and it was his replacement, William Butterworth, who established the company as a big-name tractor manufacturer. His major breakthrough was the purchase of the Waterloo Gas Engine Company in 1918. This company manufactured the Waterloo Boy tractor – a popular model. As the name may suggest, the tractors were produced in a town called Waterloo, in Iowa – John Deere continues to manufacture tractors in this city to this day.

With the dawn of the 21st Century, John Deere had established itself as the world leader in agricultural manufacturing, thanks to distinctive product branding, quality machinery and impressive product range. And of course, if you ask an agricultural worker “what runs like a Deere?” they’ll always know the answer.

John Deere has a long history manufacturing agricultural equipment and is world renowned for it impressive range of products.