Deere To Build A New Factory In India

Deere & Co., Moline, IL, reported it is upping its efforts in India. Last month, the company signed a five-year deal to work with the Indian state Gujarat, to help rural farmers and also said it will invest $100 million to build a new tractor factory in India and expand its current facility in Pune.

“All around the world, John Deere is working to help customers be more productive. Deere supports developmental projects such as this one in India to help farmers increase their chance for prosperity and improve their quality of life,” said Samuel R. Allen, chairman and chief executive officer of John Deere.

John Deere’s efforts with the government of Gujarat is targeted to help as many as 50,000 farm families learn skills to help mechanize their farms and increase crop yields.

The company said it will open small agricultural implement resource centers across Gujarat, making more than 500 tractors available for use by local farmers and providing the farmers access to use a set of 13 different implements for various operations. Each center will include a trained operator and maintenance staff. Farmer groups that use the equipment for crop cultivation will pay only for operating and maintenance costs and not for the actual tractor or implements.

John Deere said it will begin by training approximately 1,000 local individuals as tractor operators and another 500 as tractor mechanics. ◆