MOLINE, Ill. — Layoffs continued with the shuttling of more than 600 workers announced by John Deere as June came to close. In total, around 610 production staff at plants in Illinois and Iowa were told that they will be out of a job by the end of the summer, Fox Business reported. 

“The company is slashing around 280 workers from a plant in East Moline, Illinois, while another 230 employees are being let go at a factory in Davenport, Iowa,” according to Fox Business. “About 100 production employees at the company’s Dubuque, Iowa, plant will also be impacted. All layoffs are said to be effective from Aug. 30.”

The most recent layoffs amount to about 14 percent of the more than 4,000 production and maintenance jobs at Deere’s three tractor production facilities, according to the Associated Press (AP). Prior to the recent layoffs, more than 650 employees had already been laid off or are scheduled to be laid off in the opening months of 2024 from Deere’s agricultural implement production plants.

In addition to the rank-and-file layoffs, Deere confirmed an unspecified number of salaried employees will likely be laid off by the end of July. There are many drivers behind the company’s slashing of production personnel.

The AP reported that in its second-quarter earnings release issued in May, Deere realized a more than 15 percent decline in revenue, representing the third straight quarter of year-over-year sales declines. Company executives indicated at the time that they expected further sales declines in the second half of the fiscal year and said they would continue to take proactive steps to reduce production and inventory.

“Deere & Co. turned in a quarterly profit of $2.37 billion, down from $2.86 billion in the same period the previous year, and lowered its full-year 2024 profit forecast for a second time as farmers continued to buy fewer tractors and other equipment due to declining prices for their crops,” according to AP reporting. 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture anticipates that 2024 net farm income, which is a broad measure of profits, will total $116.1 billion. That’s down 25.5 percent from a year earlier. Adjusting for inflation, net farm income is expected to be down 27.1 percent this year as farmers contend with lower prices for soybeans and corn. Lower direct government payments and increased production costs are also weighing on farmers, according to a USDA spokesperson.

The bloodletting at Deere began with 225 workers at its Moline Harvester Works plant in October 2023. The company laid off another 150 workers in Ankeny, Iowa in March 2024, and sunsetted 34 other jobs in Moline in May. Another 500 employees were also given pink slips in Waterloo, Iowa.

Though the company did not issue a statement regarding the latest layoffs, a company spokesperson told news sources that “To better position Deere to meet future demand, we continue to take proactive steps to reduce production and inventory.”

In addition, Fox Business reported that Deere & Co said in an email that “We can confirm Deere leadership recently communicated that rising operational costs and declining market demand requires enterprise-wide changes in how work gets done to achieve our goals and best position the company for the future.”