DEI has infected another iconic American brand:

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John Deere Exposed: Famous American Company Soaked in Disgusting Wokeness According to New Report

By Brandon Morse | 2:30 PM on July 09, 2024

It would appear that no corporation is escaping the gravitational pull of woke politics like DEI policies and ESG adherence. This includes the most famous tractor company in the Western hemisphere, John Deere.

Filmmaker Robby Starbuck has made it his mission to root out and expose submission to radical leftist policies by corporations, especially those that rely so much on normal Americans for their success. Starbuck's recent investigation and expose of Tractor Supply Co. forced the company to abandon its DEI programs and walk back any connections to leftist politics, vowing instead to focus on real American priorities.

Now, fresh off his win, Starbuck has turned his attention to John Deere, and what he discovered is massively disappointing.

According to him, John Deere's submission to woke policies goes deep. Deeper than you would think for a company that primarily deals with farmers and rural Americans. He posted a video on X, but breaks down what he found in a bullet-pointed list:

Funding a pride event for kids as young as 3

"Genderbread man" training

They ask employees to list their "preferred pronouns" on all communications

Bill Gates is listed as their largest shareholder

John Deere celebrated their accounting and finance team taking United Way’s 21 day "United For Equity" program

When I did "United For Equity" program it promoted Ibram Kendi, the woke children’s book "Anti-Racist Baby", "Awake to Woke to Work", a podcast on the concept of "Whiteness", woke activist Robin DiAngelo, bigotry against Christians who supposedly have "Christian Privilege" and more

The woke policies have spread across the global John Deere brand with many of their DEI policies also being forced on their Latin America and India branches

LGBTQ & race based identity groups at corporate

A total commitment to DEI policies

95/100 CEI score from the HRC

https://x.com/robbystarbuck/st.../1810675517248483344




Noah Wall, Executive Director at the State Financial Officers Foundation, added that the only reason John Deere has a 95/100 from the Human Rights Campaign is that they "provided all the required benefits (which include paid transitions for kids) - just forgot to make a guide" for their benefits.

On top of all of that, John Deere announced massive layoffs and are moving their factories from America to Mexico. According to Fox Business, operational costs in the United States, as well as a lack of sales for tractors, is forcing the company to rid itself of hundreds of employees from across the nation:

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The company is slashing around 280 workers from a plant in East Moline, Illinois, while another 230 employees are being let go at a factory in Davenport, Iowa. About 100 production employees at the company’s Dubuque, Iowa, plant will also be impacted. All layoffs are said to be effective from Aug. 30, the company tells FOX Business.

About 500 employees have been let go at its Waterloo plant in Iowa, per WQAD

If there's one thing we can say for sure, it's that DEI is expensive for corporations as it not only requires a lot of money to implement in order to virtue signal effectively, it also results in fewer sales as products either decrease in quality or the company alienates its customer base.

John Deere seems to be no exception, and this is borderline heartbreaking, as it's one of those companies that's been in America since before the Civil War and is wildly popular with rural Americans.

However, no major corporation is safe. This is why it's important to make your voice heard. As Starbuck notes in his video, calling the corporate office and voicing your disagreement is important. Make it known that they've made a grave mistake.

JD may as well ditch the iconic green and have all their soon-to-be-foreign-built crap covered with the lgtbxyz rainbow.

If JD isn't going to be made in the U.S. then it's Kubota for me from now on.

that sucks,

~2 years ago I was pissed and started putting my VERY modest retirement savings in individual stocks and funds... figured I could no way do worse... I've got ~10% in JD. I guess as a shareholder I can voice my opinion, screw it I'll give it a shot

FWIW: I actually chose JD over Cummins or CAT because of this shit

I'm now only in 6 things: #1 = SCHD, #2 = Bluebird (Yes, the manufacturer of school buses)

I'm sure that the cartels are already happily mapping all the spots within JD tractors where their fentanyl can conveniently hitch a ride north.

My family back home in Canada have owned JD tractors since the early 1940's and still do.

However, I'm not totally surprised that they've gone all 'woke'. Last year I read an article about their efforts to persuade a very large-area prairie farmer to buy into their all-electric combines. This guy gas a spread of around 60,000 acres, and has a two-week window of opportunity for harvesting, during which time his twenty or so combine crews operate 24/7, living in trailers when not driving their combines, stopping only to gas-up. Obviously, he has some kind of big leasing deal ongoing with JD. So he asked the JD rep how he was going to keep the electric combines charged up in the middle of a thousand acre wheatfield.......

Seems he's still waiting for an answer to that one.

There are some things that ought NEVER to be considered for electric traction, like a helicopter, any kind of long-distance airplane or boat, and stuff like combine harvesters......

I am surprised. John Deere was and still is the go to brand for tractors and combines in the small farming community that I grew up in. You would be hard pressed to find a more conservative community. Talking about an "in your face" to your customers. Unbelievable

With Bill Gates being one their largest shareholder, I can see why.
The man is pure evil.

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Originally posted by Captain Morgan:
With Bill Gates being one their largest shareholder, I can see why.
The man is pure evil.

When I saw that, all things became clear.

John Deere lost a lot of sales the last couple of years do to the Farmers not being able to fix their equipment. Having to call a service truck and wait while their tractor sat in the middle of the field pissed them off.
A few States are trying to apply the right to repair act to farm equipment.
FEBRUARY 13, 2023:

DENVER (AP) — Lawmakers in Colorado and 10 other states have introduce bills that would force farming equipment manufacturers to provide the tools, software, parts and manuals needed for farmers to do their own repairs. The bills are a response to farmers unable to repair their own tractors and combines, forcing them to wait sometimes days and paying steep labor costs. The proposition has found pushback from manufacturers worried about releasing trade secrets, the safety of users who could more easily tinker with the software, and the operator’s ability to bypass the emissions controller.

https://drgnews.com/2024/03/18...-repair-legislation/

Hard to say how long the damage to sales will last, it seems though between going woke and the service fiasco they want to fail.

I hated to read this about John Deere; I don’t begin understand the corporate-think that would lead an iconic tractor manufacturing company to turn its back on those who made them the biggest, and led them to survive as so many other American tractor manufacturers went out of business. This, coupled with the recent announcement that JD is moving most, if not all American manufacturing to Mexico, makes me regret the JD X model lawn/garden tractor I have. Massey-Ferguson is still made in the U.S., down in Georgia.

Preview of what’s coming? And lots more of it.

Far more offensive to me than JD's political leanings are their shady business practices. Such as preventing farmers from working on their own bought and paid for equipment by putting crypto software in every JD part so repairs must be made with these instead of an after-market brand. The JD part is prohibitively more costly, and not in ways that improve quality or service life (quite the opposite in some cases). This practice is flat out extortion. They also have installed a capability to shut down equipment over the air should a farmer be late on a payment or run afoul of any usage conditions (like trying to install a non-JD implement on their tractor). Since farming is an extremely time-sensitive endeavor this can put the farmer's income at risk for an entire growing season. I don't know if farmers not adhering/promoting DEI will result in bricking their harvester, but I would not be surprised if it ends up there. Cameras in the cab to brick the machine if a white male gets behind the wheel can't be far off (don't want to give you any ideas JD!) "But I identify as a black woman," claims blond blue-eyed Iowa farm boy!

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Originally posted by architect:
Far more offensive to me than JD's political leanings are their shady business practices. Such as preventing farmers from working on their own bought and paid for equipment by putting crypto software in every JD part so repairs must be made with these instead of an after-market brand.

But this is exactly the business model of Microsoft, and Gates as largest shareholder of Deere apparently brought it to them, too.

What really annoys me, is that their quality has been total shit for over 15 years now. The ZTR my dad bought in 2009 for over $8000 has needed no less than 10 repairs with under 500 hours. One of those repairs was the he ignition wire because some genius engineer decided to route it BELOW the skid plate to the engine. It snagged on a stick and damaged the wire. Engine lost compression before 250 hours. Input shaft seal on the hydrostatic pumps had to be replaced FOUR times on each side before they got it right.

Fucking boycott them all.

Add Olive Garden to the list. They hire men who dress like women and let them serve children. Had to endure that shit recently. Sorry for the hijack, but my point remains!

Don't give any of these unhinged woke shitty corporations your money until they do a 180. We fixed Tractor Supply.

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Originally posted by TMats:
regret the JD X model lawn/garden tractor I have. Massey-Ferguson is still made in the U.S., down in Georgia.

My JD riding mower is about 25 years old, on its second engine. I've stalled replacing it over and over, repairing things as I go. (Except for that darned broken plastic hood, which finally went in the trash last week.) I've been wondering what I might get next, maybe as soon as next summer.

A quick look at Massey's web site shows their offerings to be much larger than what I need. Maybe I'll look at Cub Cadet next.

Dangit, Deere!

It's some stupid Mexican company, who cares what some Mexican company does?

Another once great, proud American company down the drain. I owned a JD lawn mower purchased in the 1990s which served me well for years. I gave it to a new homeowner a couple of years ago when it became clear my lawnmowing days were over.

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Originally posted by vthoky:

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Originally posted by TMats:
regret the JD X model lawn/garden tractor I have. Massey-Ferguson is still made in the U.S., down in Georgia.

My JD riding mower is about 25 years old, on its second engine. I've stalled replacing it over and over, repairing things as I go. (Except for that darned broken plastic hood, which finally went in the trash last week.) I've been wondering what I might get next, maybe as soon as next summer.

A quick look at Massey's web site shows their offerings to be much larger than what I need. Maybe I'll look at Cub Cadet next.

Dangit, Deere!

If you don't insist on sitting down, take a look at what pretty much every professional mowing outfit uses...some variant on the Hustler/Scag/Exmark/etc. walk-behinds, generally 36 in. - 48 in. cut. They use these for a number of reasons, some of which prob. aren't that important to a homeowner, but they are cheaper, faster cutting, and easier to maintain than a comparable rider. Some can be had with a stand-up sulky, or with a sit down sulky, but I'd suggest getting proficient without a sulky before opting for one.

In doing a little browsing, the BCS America brand has an interesting concept, buy a bare tractor unit and the implements you want to use with it. Seems very versatile and you don't have to find a place to store a bunch of different power plants, not to mention one engine to maintain, fuel, etc. Yes, I know that you can buy all sorts of implements for many popular garden tractors, but a system designed around the concept should be more effective than using a machine for, e.g., snow blowing that was designed to be cutting grass seems a no-brainer. OTOH, maybe they just have compromised so much that maybe they just suck at everything. An interesting idea anyway.