If you’ve grown up within 100 miles of a rural area, you’ve seen the name John Deere. Its green and yellow signature style is recognizable not just in the United States, but in more than 30 countries across the globe. Perhaps what makes the company most famous, however, are its humble origins and lofty reach. John Deere has been providing agricultural engineering solutions since 1836, starting right from Grand Detour, Illinois.
West Texans may be especially familiar with the genius of John Deere as he provided farmers for this part of the world a better way to plow. After arriving in Illinois, he learned that traditional cast-iron plows slowed down local farmers because of the sticky soil of the western plains. To solve this problem, he engineered a slicker plow made from steel blades. As news spread of its creation, crowds of hundreds of people flocked to its exhibition. People wanted to see the young engineer’s groundbreaking innovation.
Since that point, the Deere name has been a mainstay in plows and other farming equipment.
In 1863, the company’s founder introduced the first ride-on plow, the Hawkeye Riding Cultivator. In 1934 and ‘35 despite the toll of the Great Depression on the rural United States, the Model A and Model B tractors broke out under the guidance of the company’s new president, Charles Deere Wiman. By 1960, new company president William Hewitt expanded the reach of Deere & Company to Germany and Mexico.
Since the company began, Deere & Company has been striving for world class excellence, and is widely recognized today as a primary provider of award-winning, reliable, and efficient farm equipment.
If, like most of us, you are not a farmer, you may be wondering why the John Deere brand has become so much more than an agricultural mainstay. If you spend any time looking into collectibles, you’ve probably noticed the market surrounding John Deere toy tractors. Those suckers can get expensive. Some of the rarest have sold for hundreds of dollars at auction.
Why, though? What is it about the Deere & Company brand that has attracted such a loyal fan base?
According to some sources, the roots of this loyalty started during the Great Depression. During one of the most financially dire times in US history, farmers found themselves saddled with debts they could not repay on their farm equipment. Rather than repossess their property, the good people at Deere & Company extended financing options, delayed payments, and allowed those who relied on their equipment to keep it while the economy got its feet back.
The minds and hands at Deere & Co., including the company’s founder, seem to be what inspires generational loyalty, especially in rural areas. It’s not just the history, it’s the mentality behind the green and gold. One quote attributed to the company’s founder would ring especially true for people in agriculture: “I will never put my name on a product that does not have in it the best that is in me.”
No matter which hands the company passes through, that promise remains iron-clad.
From its conception in Illinois, Deere & Company has been aspiring to greatness not for the sake of gain for the company but for the sake of the man in his fields, battling with unruly soil, struggling financially. Refusing to take advantage of its customers has gained this company a rightful place among the American Greats.
The result? World-wide acclaim in the field of engineering, hundreds of years of loyal customers, and a line of collectibles that has John Deere die-hands spending hundreds at auction. In case you ever wondered why, now you know. Deere & Company is an American staple because it knows that Americans are the staples that hold this country together.
