Reuters — Thousands of Deere and Co. workers began a strike on Thursday, the United Auto Workers (UAW) said, days after overwhelmingly rejecting a six-year labour contract that was agreed on with the tractor maker. Earlier this month, the world’s largest farm equipment maker and the UAW union reached an agreement after weeks of negotiation […] Read more
Deere’s U.S. workers on strike after rejecting deal
CNH to temporarily shut several plants in Europe
Eight-day shutdown due to supply disruptions
Reuters — Italian-American vehicle maker CNH Industrial said Wednesday it will temporarily shut several of its European agricultural, commercial vehicle and powertrain manufacturing facilities due to the disruptions of procurement of components, including semiconductors. The maker of farm machinery, Iveco commercial vehicles, construction equipment and powertrains plans to shut the concerned plants for eight working […] Read more
Deere’s U.S. workers set to strike as UAW fails to reach deal
Reuters — Thousands of Deere and Co. workers were set to go on strike, days after overwhelmingly rejecting a six-year labour contract that was agreed on by United Auto Workers negotiators and the tractor maker. Earlier this month, the world’s largest farm equipment maker and the UAW reached an agreement after weeks of negotiation on […] Read more
Kubota to buy autosteer maker AgJunction
All-cash deal worth about $91 million
Autosteer and ag equipment guidance system maker AgJunction is poised to sell itself to farm equipment maker Kubota Corp. in a $91 million all-cash deal. Publicly-traded AgJunction, which is registered in Calgary but based at Scottsdale, Ariz., said Thursday its board has unanimously approved Kubota’s 75-cents-per-share proposal and recommended shareholders vote in favour. AgJunction would […] Read more
Trimble dealer shores up cross-Canada coverage
Vantage Canada picks up Ontario rights
The company handling sales and service for Trimble precision ag technology across most of Canada has reached a deal to handle the rest of it. Vantage Canada announced Friday it has bought the Trimble dealership rights and assets for Ontario from Premier Equipment, a John Deere dealership chain with nine locations in the province’s southern […] Read more
Deere lifts 2021 forecast on solid equipment demand
Reuters — Deere and Co. on Friday raised its full-year earnings forecast after quarterly profit topped Wall Street estimates on the back of strong demand for farm and construction equipment. The world’s largest farm equipment manufacturer now expects net income in fiscal 2021 to be between $5.7 billion and $5.9 billion, up from a range […] Read more
Brandt to buy Deere dealership chain Cervus
Regina firm to pay $302 million in all-cash deal
The world’s biggest privately-owned chain of Deere construction and forestry equipment dealerships is set to expand its reach into Deere farm equipment in a major way. Brandt Tractor, the equipment sales arm of the Regina-based Brandt Group, on Monday announced an agreement to buy all of publicly-traded Cervus Equipment Corp. for $19.50 a share, valuing […] Read more
Deere, Bear Flag aim to automate tractors as ‘fast as possible’
Reuters – U.S. tractor maker Deere & Co said on Thursday it would buy tech startup Bear Flag Robotics for $250 million, with the goal of developing over the next year systems Deere can sell to allow farm tractors to operate without a human driver in the cab. “We are effectively in market with real […] Read more
U.S. FTC votes to make ‘right to repair’ a priority
Commission also drops 1995 merger policy
Washington | Reuters — The U.S Federal Trade Commission voted Wednesday to make it a priority to address the issue of manufacturers pushing consumers to use licensed dealers to repair items ranging from smartphones to farm equipment, a practice that critics call anti-competitive. The five commissioners, three Democrats and two Republicans, voted unanimously to approve […] Read more
Telus, Rabobank ag arms buy into farm data aggregator
Companies join in on deal for Minneapolis-based Conservis
The agriculture arms of one of Canada’s major telecoms providers and a major Dutch bank and financial services firm are taking a stake in a tech firm in the business of gathering on-farm data into a single window. Telus Agriculture and Rabo AgriFinance, which is headquartered in St. Louis and serves U.S. farm customers, announced […] Read more
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