𝕴𝖔𝖜𝖆𝕳𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖙𝖔𝖕𝖕𝖊𝖗

OTTUMWA, Iowa – John Deere is once again selling out Iowa communities by announcing plans to close its Ottumwa Works and Clarion Hagie plants over the next few years. The company will move windrower production from the historic Ottumwa site, its first Iowa factory, dating back to 1911, to the Des Moines Works by the end of fiscal 2027, followed by round baler production by the end of fiscal 2028, after which the plant will shut. Hagie STS sprayer manufacturing is shifting from Clarion to Thibodaux, Louisiana, with that facility expected to close by fiscal 2029. Small planter work is also moving from Moline to Paton, Iowa. These decisions come after years of the company shipping Iowa jobs to Mexico, including the 2022 relocation of mower-conditioner production from Ottumwa to Monterrey. At normal volumes, the latest closures would affect roughly 300 workers, though Deere is currently running well below capacity amid weak farm demand. Plant shutdowns still hit hard in towns that have relied on these factories for generations. The company continues to treat Iowa as a place it can leave whenever it wants rather than a state it should prioritize. However, offering a glimmer of hope, Deere also announced over the summer that it plans to hire more than 400 people across its factories and call back more than 275 previously laid-off workers at its Waterloo operations in the coming months, bringing total recalls since 2024 to around 1,000. All employees previously laid off in Waterloo, the Quad Cities, Ottumwa, and Dubuque have now been asked to return, with additional hiring planned at other Iowa sites. Bringing those workers back is a major step in the right direction. Nonetheless, the company is still failing to fully put Iowa first, showing the same pattern of treating the state as optional whenever costs or demand shift. The John Deere Foundation has affirmed nearly $1 million in support for the affected communities, but that does not change the fact that another round of Iowa factories is being shut down. Business inquiries, corrections, story leads, or contributor requests? Email us at [email protected]. Photo: Samuel Solcan via Unsplash