In 1837 a blacksmith named John Deere invented a steel plow that was able to cut through the sticky prairie earth without clogging. This invention was historically important to the agricultural development of the prairie and the western territories of the United States. Later that year Deere formed Deere and Company, which allowed farmers all over the country to benefit from his invention. Over the next century the company flourished. Under Deere's son, Charles, the company expanded to include buggies, cultivators, wagons, steam-powered plows, and cotton planters. In the early twentieth century the company broadened its line by merging with other agricultural manufacturers. Farmers quickly took to the tractors and hay-balers. In the 1950s the company expanded overseas to construct plants in Argentina, France, Germany, and South Africa. It also began the production of road-maintenance equipment and other types of heavy construction equipment. By 1963 Deere and Company was the largest manufacturer of agricultural equipment. By the 1970s the company began to produce a new line of industrial equipment that included backhoes, forklifts, bulldozers, and logging equipment.

Through the years, Deere and Company has provided services like no other business. In 1847 Deere moved his company to Moline, Illinois, to take advantage of cheaper water transportation, which was better for the environment. During the depression of the 1930s, the company came up with a generous plan to help the poverty-stricken farmers. The company offered generous credit terms to the struggling farmers. This built strong ties with the farmers. In the 1960s and 1970s the company extended credit to help farmers purchase equipment, and in 1969 Deere and Company expanded its service operations to include an insurance division. In the 1980s the company went on to purchase Farm Plan and created Heritage National Health Plan.

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Although the company has done many good deeds for its employees and customers, hardships have hit the company. In the early 1900s, farmers began to have economic problems. The company dealers had placed orders for equipment that they could not sell. The company allowed the dealers to cancel orders after their inventory grew at alarming rates. During the years of the Depression, the company lost a considerable amount of money due to its credit line with the farmers that were trying to make ends meet. The loyalty between the two paid off for the company. During the period after World War I and the Korean War, demand exceeded the supply. Then in 1953 the seller's market disappeared and was replaced by the price buyer. The company refused to compete for markets on the basis of lowest price. The hardest blow for the company came in the 1980s. Farmers struggled to keep their farms, cutting down on the demand for the core products. To make up for this loss the company came out with a more diversified line of products. It then increased its service industry by purchasing Farm Plan and creating the Heritage National Health Plan. The losses were still too big, and the company had to lay off thousands of employees, which resulted in a long and very costly strike of the United Auto Workers in 1987. Deere and Company paid more than $4.3 million to settle age-discrimination complaints filed by 116 former employees.

The biggest controversy surrounding the company has been whether or not John Deere actually invented the steel plow. It has been said that a man named John Lane created the first manufactured plow. The plow Deere created in 1837 actually broke when used. Reports say that the thin steel plates broke easily, and the defect was not corrected until John Lane's invention of the soft-center steel plow in 1868. It has been written that, "The steel plow may well have been 'one of the major accomplishments of the agricultural revolution,' but it was not the invention of John Deere, or any other one man." Despite this accusation, a memo from Deere and Company in 1937 to historian Paul Angle states that he accepted John Deere as the true inventor of the self-cleaning steel plow.

Since the founding of Deere and Company in 1837, it has been subject to good times, bad times, and controversy. Although all this has taken place in the last century, the company has only had one thing in mind: the value of their product and the satisfaction of their customers. According to a company statement, the company's main goal has been to "identify customers' needs and serve them through a network of well-equipped, well trained, independent dealers ..." This idealism has made Deere the largest manufacturer of farm equipment in the world, and it continues to try to live up to its reputation.—[From Natalia Belting, "John Deere Didn't Invent Steel Plow," Illinois Past, Aug. 9, 1981; Deere and Company, Moline, Ill., memo to Paul M. Angle, librarian, Illinois State Historical Society, Oct. 1, 1937; Deere and Company, Moline, Ill., Makers of Plenty; http://www.deere.comlaboutus/history.]

This John Deere tractor and plow made field preparation much easier for the farmer.

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