According to an email sent a few days ago to salaried employees, John Deere said it has plans to lay off some of its global production and management workforce in the coming months.
The company cited rising operational costs and declining market demand as reasons for the changes, which Deere says are aimed at reducing redundancy in roles and responsibilities.
“Unfortunately, this means parting with some of our talented and dedicated colleagues across our global production and salaried workforce,” wrote John Deere in an email to employees on May 31. That email was shared to Reddit.
It’s currently unclear how many people could be impacted and where the layoffs will go into effect.
“We understand this news may be unsettling and affect each individual differently. It is important that we support one another during this time,” Deere’s email said.
Declining farm income and higher interest rates, contrasting with ever-increasing machinery costs, are significantly impacting Deere & Co. The company has already announced 684 layoffs between plants in Iowa and Illinois.
Worldwide net sales and revenues declined by 12 percent to $15.235 billion in the second quarter of 2024 and fell by 9 percent to $27.420 billion for the year’s first six months.
Similarly, net sales for the quarter were $13.61 billion, down from $16.079 billion last year, and for the six months, they were $24.097 billion, compared to $27.481 billion in the previous year.
In March, Deere filed five notices on Iowa’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification website, announcing its intention to lay off 150 workers over a two-month period at the Ankeny, Iowa, facility, which manufactures sprayers, cotton pickers, and other heavy agricultural equipment.
Concurrently, Deere indicated it would indefinitely lay off an additional 308 production workers at its Waterloo, Iowa, tractor plant, effective April 29. This plant manufactures Deere’s 7-R, 8-R, and 9-R Series tractors, including the recently introduced 9RX series.
On May 20, in its seventh WARN filing this year, Deere announced an additional 192 layoffs at the Waterloo plant, effective June 21.
The number of affected employees or locations for the upcoming layoffs was not disclosed, but the reduction in salaried workforce is expected by the end of September. John Deere employs roughly 83,000 people around the world, of which 38,000 are in the U.S.
Officials stated that this move, along with other cost control measures such as a hiring freeze, will enable Deere to continue investing in cutting-edge products for their customers.
»Related: Right to Repair begins to gain traction in Deere’s home state
