Deere announces 190 new layoffs in Waterloo

WATERLOO — Deere & Company, facing the prospect of fewer sales, has announced a second round of layoffs coming this spring to Waterloo.

The company informed members of the workforce at its Waterloo Operations that about 190 production employees would be placed on indefinite layoff effective June 22. Employees were told of the layoffs by factory leadership in meetings Monday.

The company announced March 26 that 308 Waterloo employees would lose their jobs in late April.

"Each John Deere factory balances the size of its production workforce with the needs of the individual factory to optimize the workforce at each facility. John Deere Waterloo Operations currently have about 5,200 total employees with about 3,300 of them working in production and maintenance jobs," the company said in a statement.

The announcement comes two months after the company announced it will lay off another 150 workers at its Ankeny location.

Deere announced last Thursday that its fiscal second quarter results beat Wall Street’s expectations, but the company lowered its full-year profit forecast for a second time as farmers buy fewer tractors and other equipment as they deal with declining prices for their crops.

The agricultural equipment manufacturer cut its profit outlook to $7 billion from a previous range of $7.50 to $7.75 billion. Before that, the company had forecast a 2024 profit between $7.75 and $8.25 billion.

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.

The USDA said that lower direct government payments and increased production costs are also weighing on farmers.

For the three months ended April 28, Deere & Company earned $2.37 billion, or $8.53 per share. A year earlier, it earned $2.86 billion, or $9.65 per share.

The performance easily beat the $7.86 per share that analysts polled by Zacks Investment Research were calling for.

Revenue for the Moline, Ill.-based company fell 12 percent to $15.24 billion. Its adjusted revenue — which excludes finance and interest income — was $13.61 billion, topping Wall Street’s estimate of $13.26 billion.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.