They're everywhere!

If you've been following the ramblings you know about my friend Jim, the retired farmer who is a big John Deere fan.

Jim celebrating Halloween, 2008

It's an obsession really I think -- but it's good fun for the whole group! I suppose it's like owning a car -- once you buy a Ford, you always buy a Ford (with my apologies to my Chevy friends!). Jim (and Mike by the way!) are quite passionate about their Deere's. For my birthday I got a Deere hat so now I'm an official member of the club!

You never know where you will find a Deere out on the road -- in yards, in fields, on mailboxes, sometimes on a bike riding down the road! Man I'm telling you -- You never know what you'll see out on the road during a ride!

Apparently he's lost his license so had to use his bike instead of his pick-up to get his deer home!

John Deere would probably be surprised to see the reach of his company today. He started out as a blacksmith with a creative, problem solving mind. He just wanted a plow to get through the stickly, thick midwestern soil (actually back in the 1830's what we call the midwest was then considered the west!). He not only developed the first commercial self-scouring plow but he built the frist several hundred himself.

He also changed the business model of the day. Instead of building plows for customers as they needed them, as was the practice of blacksmiths in the day, he built a stock of plows and went out to sell them. Seems so reasonable today, but a tremendous risk back then.

There are more reasons that the John Deere company still thrives 170 years later, and most originate from John Deere's philosophies. He would be a good case study for any business school today.
1. High Standards of Quality: "I will never put my name on a product that does not have the best of what is in me"
2. Constant changes in design: "They haven't got to take what we make and somebody else will beat us, and we will lose our trade."

After growing in the states, the Deere went global. As early as 1909 this move was considered, when they looked into developing a Russian plow factory. But it finally happened in 1956 when they opened in Mexico, quickly moving to Germany and Spain before expanding to France, Argentina and beyond.

A John Deere Dealership in Girona, Spain!

In 1954 a 2 row corn head was developed to much fanfare -- they could shell up to 20 acres of corn in a single day! Looking ahead to 2009 and my experience on the combine -- we did probably 130 acres while I was in the combine, I did about 30-40 acres myself with an 18 row head. Gary mentioned that his father was probably turning in his grave because Gary had a Deere as his father was a supporter of a different brand -- but Gary found that Deere supported him better, fixing and providing service during all weather, any day or hour of the week. That's important when you have so many things to worry about, such a limited time to harvest.

Always moving forward, always developing that next piece of equipment to make farming that much easier, more efficient. No wonder they love their Deere's!