MOLINE, Illinois, April 28, 2026, 06:03 CDT
- Deere plans to boost U.S. production with new facilities in Indiana and North Carolina. Each location should bring roughly 150 new jobs.
- This comes on the heels of thousands of Deere layoffs at U.S. plants in both 2024 and 2025.
- Farm equipment makers remain under pressure, with demand still soft, tariffs in play, and crop prices down—clouds that haven’t lifted from the machinery cycle.
John Deere’s plan to launch two U.S. plants and bring back a portion of recently laid-off staff is facing renewed questions, as the handful of new roles looks minor against the backdrop of the company’s recent job reductions in the Midwest. Food Tank, in a report out Tuesday, put the issue plainly: can these new sites and limited rehiring do much to counteract years of layoffs at the agriculture and construction giant?
Timing’s a factor here. Deere is looking to highlight new U.S. investment just as farmers hesitate on big-ticket machinery, tariffs drive up input costs, and equipment manufacturers try to manage a downturn without saddling dealers with excess inventory. U.S. regular stock trading hadn’t started at the dateline.
Deere is moving ahead with a distribution center in Hebron, Indiana, and an excavator plant set for Kernersville, North Carolina—both targeting openings inside the next year. Chairman and CEO John May pointed to these sites as proof of Deere’s push for more U.S. manufacturing and jobs. The company is linking the two projects to a sweeping $20 billion, decade-long U.S. manufacturing initiative.
The Indiana Economic Development Corp. said a $125 million warehouse and distribution center covering 1.2 million square feet is coming to 234 acres in Lake County, close to the Lowell-Hebron area. State officials expect the site to generate roughly 150 jobs and streamline parts deliveries for both customers and dealers.
Deere has put $70 million into a 380,000-square-foot plant in Kernersville, North Carolina, where it’s ramping up small excavator production and bringing over 150 new jobs. According to site general manager Steve Brewer, the facility—where workers have been turning out excavators since 1988—will assemble both small and mid-sized models, opening up new paths for employees.
Some workers are coming back, but not many. KCRG said Deere recalled 21 employees at Dubuque Works, 20 at Davenport Works, and eight at Coffeyville Works in Kansas this month. That lifts the total number of U.S. employees brought back since January to roughly 324. Deere pointed to increased demand for construction, forestry, and drivetrain gear as the reason.
The number comes amid a sweeping reduction. According to layoff figures from Investigate Midwest, Deere let go of 2,167 employees this year across its Iowa and Illinois operations—Waterloo, Davenport, Dubuque, Ankeny, Johnston, Urbandale, Ottumwa, Moline, and East Moline all saw cuts. Deere pointed to “challenging market conditions” and weaker demand from farmers as reasons. Investigate Midwest
The numbers didn’t all move the same way. Deere pulled in $656 million in first-quarter net income, slipping from $869 million a year back. Yet global net sales and revenue climbed 13%, reaching $9.61 billion. CEO May pointed to signs of rebound in construction and small ag demand, and Deere bumped up its fiscal 2026 net income outlook to $4.5 billion–$5.0 billion.
The recovery, though, still looks patchy. Deere warned investors the large ag market in the U.S. and Canada might shrink as much as 15% to 20% this year. Reuters added that the company is bracing for about $1.2 billion in pre-tax tariff costs in fiscal 2026. The wire also quoted Oppenheimer’s Kristen Owen, who flagged that thin inventories could help, if stocks revert to normal levels as the year goes on.
Rival firms are feeling it too. CNH Industrial now sees its agriculture segment sales in 2026 falling as much as 5% or staying flat from the prior year, according to Manufacturing Dive. AGCO, for its part, projects a dip in North American large ag equipment sales, though total sales are set to climb. Deere, CNH, and AGCO alike are pulling back on production, aiming to avoid a glut as farm demand stays soft.
New figures from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers show U.S. farm tractor sales dropped 9.1% in March year-over-year, while sales of combines slid 25.3%. “Overall softness in the Ag economy,” is how Curt Blades, AEM senior vice president, described it, though he pointed out that interest in upgrading with modern tech and equipment is still there for the long haul. newsroom.aem.org
Deere’s reputation stretches well past the latest sales figures. On Tuesday, Farm Progress featured Nebraska farmer Shelley Bruha and her family’s restored 1946 John Deere GM—a tractor she immediately recognized years later, thanks to a distinctive hand-clutch her father added after an accident when she was a kid. The anecdote is small but telling, underscoring how deeply Deere is woven into the fabric of farm life—even as the company contends with tougher conversations about jobs.
For Deere workers in Iowa and Illinois, the tough call isn’t about the company’s commitment to investing. It’s about which plant gets the next line, the amount of work coming back, and if the machinery slump has really hit its low point. Fresh facilities boost Deere’s U.S. narrative, but they don’t change the layoff calculus.
