Free Republic

Things politicians never talk about when they pander to Greenies.Managing All Electric Farm EquipmentA close friend farms over 10,000 acres of corn in the mid-west. The property is spread out over 3 counties. His operation is a “partnership farm” with John Deere. They use the larger farm operations as demonstration projects for promotion and development of new equipment. He recently received a phone call from his John Deere representative, and they want the farm to go to electric tractors and combines in 2023. He currently has 5 diesel combines that cost $900,000 each that are traded in every 3 years....

A Florida man who evaded deputies earlier this year by escaping into a swamp was caught on Saturday after he tried to outrun law enforcement on a riding lawnmower, authorities said. Dusty Mobley, 40, was located around 9:30 a.m. at a home on Pasco Broxson Circle in Holt, the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said. He was wanted on warrants related to the theft of a $40,000 boat in January. When Mobley spotted the deputies, the sheriff’s office said he switched a John Deere riding lawnmower "into high gear" and tried to flee the scene. Mobley was quickly apprehended after pursuing...

In the latest and largest strike to hit manufacturing in recent months, more than 10,000 UAW-represented Deere & Co. workers officially went on strike at the stroke of twelve between October 13 and 14. Workers roundly rejected an October 1 UAW-negotiated contract with the tractor manufacturer, with 90% of members voting against the deal. The strike will hit 14 of Deere & Co.’s U.S. locations. Half of those factories are in Iowa; the rest are in Illinois, Kansas, Colorado, and Georgia. The strike’s timing comes at an inopportune point for Deere & Co., which has already seen record profits this...

Believe it or not, Deere & Company (NYSE:DE) currently employs more software engineers than mechanical engineers. How is this possible? The farming industry is experiencing significant disruption. Innovative technology is enabling what is called "precision agriculture" to come to fruition. Farmers are able to leverage technology to monitor their crops in ways that were once unfathomable. John Deere's next-generation machines use artificial intelligence (AI) to exponentially increase efficiencies, enabling farmers to reap increased crop yields with less work and lower costs.Deere does not manufacture electric vehicles like Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA), but you may be surprised to hear it is working on...

Over the course of the last six months, a populist movement to weaken the rights of IP holders has swept across the country. Impacting a cross section of politically diverse states, including California, Texas, Hawaii, and Arkansas, the “right-to-repair” movement and its allies succeeded in introducing flawed legislation that would have devastated the intellectual property rights of innovators by using the levers of state government to advantage one competitor over another. Attacks on IP have become more common, yet they tug at the heart of free markets by using government power to take IP from one to give to another....

New York (CNN Business)It's been nine years since Michael Robinson of Columbus, Ohio, nearly lost a major part of his family's legacy. He's still fighting to regain full control of it. In 2012, the 57-year-old married father of four, who is Black, found out someone he'd never met named James E. Deshler II was suing his family members to force them to sell their portion of the 127 acres of Barlow Bend, Alabama, farmland that they'd inherited from Robinson's late grandfather, Joe Ely. The local county auditor's website determined last year that the land is worth more than $212,000. The...

Meanwhile, both IGEA and John Deere believe existing protections under existing consumer law work just fine. "As more products are computerised, and the information and power imbalances between manufacturers and consumers grow, the incentives for premature planned obsolescence that harms consumers is likely to increase. It is important that regulators are equipped with an appropriate legislative framework to investigate new emerging practices that may harm consumers," the ACCC said. In September 2018, the Equipment Dealers Association signed an agreement with John Deere in which the company would begin voluntarily making repair tools, software guides, and diagnostic equipment available for ordinary...

For a few years now, Tesla started selling vehicles with upgradable software-locked capabilities, like 75 kWh battery pack software-locked at 60 kWh or higher power outputs enabled through software updates. The most recent example is offering a $2,000 ‘Acceleration Boost’ for the Model 3 Dual Motor. Now André has launched a new company, Ingenext, to offer those performance upgrades to Model 3 owners at a lower cost. Ingenext’s pitch is that instead of paying $2,000 for Tesla to unlock capability that is already in your vehicle, you buy their system for $1,100 and you get the new acceleration boost and...

When we read about farmers feeling the pinch in their profits due to the trade war with China, we think of farms and crops. A part of the economic story sometimes overlooked is that of companies who depend on agricultural sales, the companies that service farm communities, like Deere & Co. It was announced Friday that the company’s quarterly earnings missed Wall Street expectations. The agricultural equipment manufacturer is feeling the effects of the trade war between the U.S. and China. Since the beginning of the year, Deere stocks have declined 2% and nearly 1% in the past twelve...

To avoid the draconian locks that John Deere puts on the tractors they buy, farmers throughout America's heartland have started hacking their equipment with firmware that's cracked in Eastern Europe and traded on invite-only, paid online forums. Tractor hacking is growing increasingly popular because John Deere and other manufacturers have made it impossible to perform "unauthorized" repair on farm equipment, which farmers see as an attack on their sovereignty and quite possibly an existential threat to their livelihood if their tractor breaks at an inopportune time. "When crunch time comes and we break down, chances are we don't have time...

Ride-on lawn mower manufacturer Cox Industries might only employ 60 people today from 160 a decade ago, and has suffered three break-even years because it hasn’t rained enough, but co-owner Ken McColl says the Australian economy still can’t afford businesses like his to disappear. “We have 400 separate suppliers, almost all of them local small businesses,” McColl tells BRW from Cox’s 20,000 sqm factory headquarters at Acacia Ridge, Queensland. “From the makers of a specialist washer, to the electricians and plumbers and maintenance people here at the factory. I’m not even counting our bank, insurer or sandwich shop around the...

July 10, 2012 12:21 pm By Philip Marcelo WOONSOCKET, R.I. -- Drugstore giant CVS Caremark is among the latest corporate sponsors dropping their support of the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, a business-backed national conservative group. CVS Caremark joined John Deere, MillerCoors, HP and Best Buy in deciding not to fund ALEC, according to ColorOfChange.org, an organization opposed to the stricter voter-identification laws ALEC advocates for. ColorOfChange issued a news release Tuesday with this comment from Larry Burton, CVS Caremark senior vice-president for government affairs: "Over the last few weeks, we have closely followed the issues surrounding the American...

Politics: Rep. Henry Waxman vowed to haul CEOs into hearings after they revealed just how much ObamaCare will cost their firms. It's an absurd war on bookkeeping, from a Congress desperate to avoid heat for this fiasco. In the wake of President Obama's presidential signature on the gargantuan Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act last Thursday, big companies have crunched their numbers and come up with an ugly picture. In legally mandated filings, AT&T reported that ObamaCare will cost it $1 billion. Deere & Co. reported $150 million in new costs. Caterpillar must cough up $100 million. 3M must pay...

NEW YORK – AT&T Inc. will take a $1 billion non-cash accounting charge in the first quarter because of the health care overhaul and may cut benefits it offers to current and retired workers. The charge is the largest disclosed so far. Earlier this week, AK Steel Corp., Caterpillar Inc., Deere & Co. and Valero Energy announced similar accounting charges, saying the health care law that President Barack Obama signed Tuesday will raise their expenses. On Friday, 3M Co. said it will also take a charge of $85 million to $90 million.

Health Reform: As major businesses lay out the impact of ObamaCare in dollars and jobs, two things are clear: the costs will be enormous, and the president's vow to focus on "jobs, jobs, jobs" can no longer be believed. Early returns on ObamaCare are coming in, and they belie proponents' claims of job creation and cost reduction. The costs will increase. They are merely being shifted to the states and to America's businesses, large and small. AT&T, the country's largest telephone company, announced Friday it will take a $1 billion first-quarter charge related to the new health care law. The...

Deere Says New Health Care Reform Law Will Increase 2010 Expense By $150 Million After-Tax MOLINE, Illinois (March 25, 2010) — Deere & Company announced today that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act signed into law this week will adversely impact its expenses for fiscal 2010. As a result of the legislation, the company's expenses are expected to be about $150 million higher on an after-tax basis, primarily in the second quarter. This impact was not included in the 2010 outlook for net income attributable to Deere & Company of approximately $1.3 billion disclosed in the company's first-quarter earnings...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Russia has seen over $1.5 billion (925 million pounds) of company deals unveiled, but a longer term step-change in business between the nations will depend on Moscow boosting the rule of law. "We need the confidence that things are going to remain stable, that the ground rules are going to remain stable," Samuel Allen, chairman of U.S. farm machinery maker Deere. , told reporters while announcing an investment of $500 million into Russia within the next five to seven years. .... A breakthrough at these talks would serve as evidence both...

Bomb scare clears John Deere Posted By TRIBUNE STAFF ARTICLE SNIPPET: "A bomb scare sent workers home yesterday at John Deere Welland Works. According to a police press release, at about 5:30 a. m. an unknown male made a phone call to the plant on Canal Bank Road. He said a bomb would go off in the plant but provided few details." ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Police are seeking public assistance in finding the person who made the call. Anyone with information is urged to contact Smith at 905-688-4111 ext. 3345."

Pontiac, SC - It has been announced in local media (Columbia, SC) that the John Deere plant in Pontiac, SC, is being shut down. The plant has been subject to twice weekly protests by Southern heritage supporters since October, 2000. The protests, organized by Dean Weems, were the result of John Deere management firing two employees due to their love of their heritage. Bill Van Der Hoff, a mechanic, was fired for refusing to remove a 1 1/2 by 1 1/2 inch Confederate Battle flag sticker from his personally owned tool box. Another employee, Gary Waller, was fired for the ...

BOSTON - In a trailblazing pairing of robotics and tractor companies, iRobot and John Deere announced plans Monday to build a 9-foot-long semi-autonomous battlefield vehicle. Burlington-based iRobot Corp. will adapt the artificial intelligence technology used in its Roomba vacuums and portable PackBot military robots for a two-seat John Deere utility vehicle similar to ones the Pentagon (news - web sites) already uses. The Military Robotic Gator, or R-Gator, will be the first of its kind to use off-the-shelf technology, making it easier and less expensive to produce than existing, custom-made vehicles, the companies said. While the Pentagon is expected to...