Deere lays off another 75 workers at Ottumwa plant

Deere & Co. will lay off another 75 employees at its Ottumwa Works in February.

Workers were notified earlier this week of the layoffs, which take effect Feb. 7. Deere put out the following statement:

"As was recently stated in our fourth quarter earnings report, challenging market conditions continue to result in reduced demand for our equipment with projected earnings for 2025 down $5 (billion) from 2023 when earnings were $10.1 (billion). To remain globally competitive, we must continue making workforce adjustments as needed to our manufacturing footprint. Today, we’ve informed employees at our Ottumwa, Iowa, facility that approximately 75 production employees will be placed on indefinite layoff effective Feb. 7."

The action was listed Monday on the Iowa Workforce Development website as required under Iowa's Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act.

Monday was also the first day out of a job for 112 workers at John Deere Waterloo Works after the layoffs announced in December.

Beginning with a March announcement, Deere & Co. has staged a series of layoffs that have idled thousands of employees. Factoring in a layoff announced in October 2023, Deere has let go more than 3,100 workers companywide.

The company blames the layoffs on the farm economy, with the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecasting receipts from crops like corn and soybeans will be down another 18 percent in 2024 after a 5 percent decline the previous year. Prices for corn, soybeans and wheat are expected to be lower than prices in 2022.

The near future is also bleak, with margins predicted in the red for all major row crops in 2025. The threat of retaliatory tariffs, the possible loss of a huge number of agricultural workers to President-elect Donald Trump’s planned mass deportations of undocumented immigrants and prohibitive interest rates for those considering the purchase of big-ticket items like farm implements are among factors fueling that negative outlook.

In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024, net sales and revenues decreased 28 percent at Deere. The full fiscal year had decreased sales of 16 percent for a total of $51.72 billion. Deere reported a net income of $1.25 billion for the fourth quarter that ended Oct. 27.