The Deere Company, more familiarly known as John Deere, is one of the largest and most successful manufacturers of farming equipment in the world. The color scheme of green and yellow immediately identifies a John Deere tractor, even if its trademark design of a leaping deer were not just as identifiable.

In 1837, John Deere was a blacksmith in Grand Detour, Illinois. The farmers in the area were having a great deal of difficulty in tilling the tough, prairie soil - much of it sticky clay - with their cast iron plows. Something better was needed. Deere perfected the self-scouring steel plow (constructed from highly polished steel and with a a correctly shaped moldboard). So successful was this new plow that Deere was able to go into partnership with another businessman in 1843 to speed up production. By 1848 he'd moved his company to the transportation hub that was Moline, Illinois (located on the banks of the Mississippi River) and had produced 10,000 plows.

Up until that time, a farmer requested a plow and the blacksmith made it to order. Deere manufactured several plows at one time, so that the farmer could come in, look around and see what he wanted, and then buy it then and there. That was the kind of innovation that started the John Deere company on its long, successful road.

It wasn't until 1868 that the business was named the John Deere Company. Up until that time Deere had had many partners, but he always stressed that only quality products would come out of his company. Deere's son Charles became director of the company and under his aegis it became even more and more successful.

It was in 1912 that John Deere moved into the tractor business - that branch for which they are best known today. Over 90 years later they are still going strong. The company employs around 50,000 people in many countries, including the United States and Turkey, Canada, the United Kingdom, China, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, India, Poland, and Mexico. Their main business headquarters are still located in Moline, Illinois.

The Deere family is no longer connected to the John Deere company - which is huge with many subsidiaries including the AGRIS Corporation (John Deere Agri Services), John Deere Landscapes (a supplier of landscaping plants, materials, and irrigation equipment) and even

NavCom Technology, Inc. (Precision positioning systems and intelligent mobile equipment technologies) to name a few.

As with all major companies, John Deere has a website which provides a history of the company, a search function to find the dealer nearest you, and a complete catalog of all their offerings, from residential to commercial equipment, from golf & turf tools to agricultural machines, to construction, forestry, and engine components. In other words, they'll have a piece of machinery or equipment to meet your every need.