Find out how much John Deere tractors cost, where they are made and a bit about the history behind the leaping deer logo
Where are John Deere tractors Built?
John Deere has kept its roots in the United States. The world headquarters is in Moline, Illinois, USA. The company continues to make tractors of various different types at factories in four US states: Georgia, Tennessee, Iowa and Wisconsin.
The business has been an international one since 1912. From the 1950s onwards factories were built in Germany, Spain and Mexico.
Today John Deere tractors are made worldwide at factories in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. John Deere has 104 locations around the world, with 43 in the US.
Who Makes John Deere tractors?
The John Deere company has been making tractors for over 100 years. They first moved into the tractor business in 1918, but the company’s history goes back much further than that.
It all started when John Deere, an Illinois blacksmith, invented a steel plough in 1837 that turned out to be very popular with farmers working heavy soil on the prairies. Before the introduction of John Deere’s steel plough farmers had to regularly clean the prairie soil off their cast-iron ploughs, as it would stick to them. With the steel plough, the problem disappeared.
Following the success of his design, John Deere became a plough manufacturer. He built a state-of-the-art factory in Moline, Illinois in 1848. By 1863 John Deere’s company had invented a horse-powered ride-on plough, the Hawkeye Riding Cultivator.
Towards the end of the 19th century, the first gasoline-powered tractors were tested and launched. In 1918 the move to tractors with engines was made when the John Deere company bought the Waterloo Gas Engine Company, the manufacturers of the Waterloo Boy tractor.
In that first year of production, John Deere made and sold 5,634 tractors. This was to be the start of a century of continuous innovation and technological development in tractor manufacturing at John Deere, during which the company became a household name.
Since 1918 John Deere has moved into making equipment not just for farmers but for people working in many other industries too including forestry, gardening, outdoor recreation, landscaping and construction. Today the John Deere brand can be found in many different settings – from timber-cutting to road-building, to golf course and grounds maintenance.
John Deere is now a multinational company, operating in 35 countries across the world with 100 factories building a wide range of machinery.
The company is known for its innovative culture, with a focus on making products that directly benefit the customer. This was what John Deere himself strongly believed in when he first began his plough manufacturing business in the 19th century, and it remains a key value of the organisation today.
Also Read: John Deere 455 Tractor
What Types of Tractors does John Deere Make?
Over the course of its long history, John Deere has made nearly 700 different tractor models.
The current range of John Deere tractors is vast. At the top end, John Deere produces huge articulated 4WD tractors with up to 560hp. These gigantic beasts are used on big farms. At the other end of the scale, John Deere makes smaller tractors known as ‘sub-compact’ tractors for homeowners. These include machines such as ride-on mowers.
In between these two ends of the scale, there is an enormous array of other models. Row-crop tractors designed specifically for planting crops efficiently. Specialised low-built and narrow tractors for accessing orchards, vineyards and other awkward terrain. Tractors with tracks. There are also various sizes of what John Deere calls ‘utility’ tractors with loads of different uses. You can add multiple attachments to them such as ploughs, shovels, balers and mowers.
John Deere is known for tractors, but they make a wide range of other machinery too, from cotton picking machines to combine harvesters.
Types of John Deere Tractors
- Articulated 4WD tractors with up to 560hp – huge beasts used in farming
- Row-crop tractors with up to 360hp – for farmers planting crops
- Speciality tractors for example, for awkward spaces – moving through vineyards or under trees in orchards. Low and narrow models are manufactured to suit different needs
- Track tractors – the 8RT and 9RT series
- Utility tractors – up to 250hp with multiple attachment options for work such as hauling, mowing and baling
- Compact utility tractors – tractors with up to 66hp perfect for loading, mowing, ploughing, digging and landscaping
- Sub-compact tractors – the smallest tractors John Deere make. Perfect for homeowners for small jobs around the house such as lawn mowing.
Read More: John Deere X330 Lawn Tractor Review and Specs
Where John Deere tractors are Built Outside the US:
- Rosario, Argentina
- Montenegro, Brazil
- Harbin, China
- Ningbo, China
- Tianjin, China
- Mannheim, Germany
- Dewas, India
- Pune, India
- Saltillo, Mexico
- Domodedovo, Russia
How Much are John Deere Tractors?
The range of prices is as wide as the range of tractors. The list below starts with the lowest-priced vehicles first and moves up through the range to the top-priced models.
These prices do not reflect what might be available secondhand, on finance or through special offers that you might get from local dealers.
- Lawn tractors: prices can start at around $1,600
- The compact tractors range in price from $16,000-$25,000
- The 5 Family utility tractors are from $20,000 to $100,000.
- The 6 Family utility tractors are around $90,000 to $265,000.
- Speciality tractors have a price range of $50,000 to $180,000.
- There are many different row-crop tractors starting at around $130,000 in the 6 Family range. The 7 Series prices start at $235,000 and reach $325,000, while the 8 Series models range from $275,000 to $560,000.
- For the biggest tractors in the John Deere range – the 4WD and 9 series models – the prices start at $360,000, with the top of the range model at around $645,000.
For more detail on different models take a look at our Ultimate Guide to John Deere Tractors.