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John Deere, a U.S. Icon, Is Undermined by Tariffs and Struggling Farmers

Checkerboard Strangler said:
For the last few years John Deere has been undermining farmers by not allowing them to repair their own equipment.
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The complaints in the thread about Deere are disheartening to read. I'm too much of a city slicker to know. Fodder for another thread: American capitalism is pretty awful from a consumer standpoint now. My wife and I just went into formerly reliable stores for autumn decor and the pickings were slim. And walking into virtually any brick and mortar is depressing now. Shopping in America used to be a lot of fun.
 
Allan said:
It's the same for Farmer John. He can replace any mechanical part but the sophisticated technologies inherent in large equipment will always be beyond his skill level.
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Bologna.
 
Allan said:
Do you really think the average farmer can repair a GPS guided combine?

Could you repair the technology on a high end Cadillac?
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ANY repairs.
No, of course the more complex systems need a trained and qualified technician with access to specialized tools and parts.
For well over a decade farmers werre unable to fix ANYTHING on their own John Deere equipment due to restricted access to repair information, tools, and software, which often limited repairs exclusively to authorized Deere dealerships.
Furthermore Deere also warned that any attempt at repairs at other than an authorized dealership voided all warranties.
Tractors still do HAVE internal combustion engines, with equipment and accessories found on any motor vehicle.
After all, it is still just a tractor.

In 2008 my wife and I decided we simply HAD to be early HDTV adopters and we spent 1800 bucks on a 40 inch ViewSonic HDTV set.
The set came with an eighteen month warranty and almost exactly eighteen months later the set went kaput.

When we tried to get it serviced (out of warranty of course!) we were told it HAD to be serviced at an authorized ViewSonic facility, which informed us that the specific repair parts (inverter board) were unavailable.
Thus we had an eighteen hundred dollar paperweight that could not be repaired at all.
Five years later, long after we had tossed the set, I found the exact inverter board needed to bring the set back to life on eBay, the part being sold by a former ViewSonic repair guy.

It was 38 bucks on eBay.
 
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Allan said:
Could you repair the technology on a high end Cadillac?
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Much of the NON-computer stuff, like replacing an alternator or water pump? Yes, absolutely.
And a lot of indie repair shops right down the street could do it too.
 
Welp, all I can say is, I'm guessing older tractors and related farm equipment owners may soon be experiencing more demand to sell their supposedly "outdated" stuff.
If I was a farmer now, a 1981 John Deere tractor would be looking pretty attractive.
 
John Deere took a hit last year for their DEI garbage and likely haven't fully recovered even after apologizing and abolishing DEI initiatives.
 
CLAX1911 said:
No John Deere doesn't care about that. They hurt themselves.
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Yes the State should take over all businesses and Trump is doing that right now. Communism is good when Trump does it. We all know what a great businessman he is.

The Danger of Trump Seizing Private Companies​

President Donald Trump’s blatant efforts to transform America’s long-heralded capitalist system into a state-controlled economy have business leaders alarmed. The federal government’s revenue-sharing agreements with Nvidia and AMD, as well as its equity stakes in Intel, U.S. Steel, and MP Materials, threaten the very foundations that have made the U.S. economy the best in the world—and undermine the economic philosophy of many Trump supporters.

“Government ‘help’ to business is just as disastrous as government persecution,” wrote free-market economic evangelist Ayn Rand in her book Anthem. “The only way a government can be of service to national prosperity is by keeping its hands off.”
In contrast, Mao Tse-tung, Former Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party argued that “The capitalist economy exists not chiefly to make profits for the capitalists but to meet the needs of the people and the state.” Instead, Mao suggested that leaders should “have the firm conviction that state capitalism is the only road for the transformation of capitalist industry and commerce and for the gradual completion of the transition to socialism.”

https://time.com/7313446/trump-seizing-private-companies/
 
 
The Brad Dad said:
One of the country’s largest manufacturers is worse off now than it was six months ago. Last month, John Deere said net income in its most recent quarter was down 29 percent from a year earlier. Higher tariffs, primarily on steel but also on aluminum, have cost the company $300 million so far, with nearly another $300 million expected by the end of the year. This summer the company laid off 238 employees across factories in Illinois and Iowa.

www.nytimes.com

John Deere, a U.S. Icon, Is Undermined by Tariffs and Struggling Farmers

The tractor maker said that sales were down and that higher metal tariffs would cost it $600 million, while American farmers face dwindling overseas demand for some crops.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

I wonder what changed 6 months ago.
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from the OP's nytimes article:

www.nytimes.com

John Deere, a U.S. Icon, Is Undermined by Tariffs and Struggling Farmers

The tractor maker said that sales were down and that higher metal tariffs would cost it $600 million, while American farmers face dwindling overseas demand for some crops.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

...The company reported a record profit two years ago, but President Trump’s tariffs and trade policies are making the market more challenging and unpredictable for the business and its customers.

One of the country’s largest manufacturers is worse off now than it was six months ago. Last month, John Deere said net income in its most recent quarter was down 29 percent from a year earlier. Higher tariffs, primarily on steel but also on aluminum, have cost the company $300 million so far, with nearly another $300 million expected by the end of the year. This summer the company laid off 238 employees across factories in Illinois and Iowa.

Yet John Deere is just the sort of manufacturing powerhouse that Mr. Trump says he wants more of in the United States. The company, based in Moline, Ill., has made farm equipment since 1837. Its green-and-yellow tractors, combines and sprayers help farmers feed the country and produce billions of dollars’ worth of crops for export.

The company employs 30,000 workers in 60 facilities across the country and said more than 75 percent of its machines were assembled in the United States. Just 25 percent of the components used in its products come from foreign countries, John Deere said.

Demand for new agricultural equipment is mostly determined by crop prices. When crop prices are high, farmers flush with cash buy new equipment. When crop prices slump, they’ll hold on to an aging tractor or more strongly consider the used market.

Prices are currently low, with corn selling for 50 percent of the highs seen in mid-2022. Soybean prices are down 40 percent over the same time frame.

John Deere said that it expected 2025 sales for large agricultural machinery — the source of most of its revenue — to fall 15 to 20 percent and that the malaise would continue into 2026....

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Thanks, trump. Your tariffs are a hell of a yuuuuuuuuuuuuuge tax on the farmers and farming communities in this country. And on the small businesses and big manufacturers who depend upon farmers to have enough money to make purchases, small and large.

Btw: soybeans are the largest cash crop in the Buckeye State.
 
Flyover country is just happy to see military in the streets of cities they never go to because they are little girls afraid of everything
 
CaughtInThe said:
God
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www.reuters.com

Caterpillar lifts 2025 tariff hit estimate to as much as $1.8 billion

Caterpillar on Thursday raised its estimate of tariff-related costs for 2025, citing additional levies and clarifications, sending its shares down 3% in extended trading.
www.reuters.com www.reuters.com

Aug 28 (Reuters) - Caterpillar (CAT.N), opens new tab on Thursday raised its estimate of tariff-related costs for 2025, citing additional levies and clarifications, sending its shares down 3% in extended trading.

Sweeping tariffs have raised costs across Caterpillar's supply chain, as the company imports key components such as sensors, even as manufacturers race to localize production.

The Trump administration's latest tariffs, announced on July 31, target imports from dozens of countries, including major trading partners such as Canada, the European Union, Japan, India and several Southeast Asian nations....

Caterpillar now expects a tariff hit of $1.5 billion to $1.8 billion this year, up from its prior forecast of up to $1.5 billion.

The company had issued its previous expectations along with its second-quarter earnings results earlier this month.

On Thursday, it said the higher costs will push its adjusted operating profit margin toward the bottom of its target range, though it left its full-year sales and revenue outlook unchanged.

Industrial machinery makers are grappling with higher costs from Trump's expansive tariffs on imports, while weak demand and elevated interest rates limit their ability to pass on the burden to customers.

The heavy equipment maker also raised its estimate for third-quarter tariff costs to as much as $600 million, from a prior forecast of up to $500 million.
 
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