Deere paint and tractor tour fascinate guests

Have you ever thought about how much paint it takes to cover a John Deere tractor in that famous green and yellow? Turns out, it takes five gallons applied by a half-dozen employees and robotics inside the Deere plant in Waterloo, Iowa.

A group from the Stephenson County Farm Bureau in Illinois got an up close and personal look recently on their field trip to the plant.

According to the Freeport Journal-Standard, one of the highlights was seeing a cab being lowered onto a chassis.

The visitors enjoyed the chance to see this modern plant with the latest equipment. They also got to check out some historic models, and most importantly, ate lunch!

Deere Foundation provides $1 million for Japan relief

Help is on the way after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan. The John Deere Foundation is granting $1 million to the Red Cross organization. It will support relief efforts.

And that’s not all. The John Deere Foundation will match Deere employee contributions to the Japan relief effort up to an additional $500,000.

Deere’s Chairman and CEO Samuel Allen says the company is “deeply saddened when a disaster of this magnitude causes so much destruction and loss of life.”

The John Deere Foundation is Deere & Company’s main philanthropic organization. It’s great to see them step up like this during such a tragic time.

From Russia With Deere

Dateline: Moscow….well, near Moscow, actually Domodedovo, where Deere & Company announced plans this week to double the manufacturing space at its plant there and establish its own leasing company in Russia for the sale of agriculture, construction and forestry machinery.

Deere’s top boss Sam Allen made the announcement while participating at a Russian investment conference with other U.S. CEO’s and Vice President Joe Biden.

Deere will be able to expand the products it makes there and add new products, like log forwarders, which are popular with Russian foresters.