COMMITMENT

Constant research and development has always been key to the John Deere company, as Deere himself once said, "They haven't got to take what we make and somebody else will beat us, and we will lose our trade." To this day, the company spends more on research and development than most other companies in its industry.

LEGENDARY

February 7, 2004 marked the 200th birthday of John Deere, the man. His one man blacksmith shop in 1836 has spawned one of the most celebrated equipment manufacturing companies in the world.

LEAPING FORWARD

The famous leaping deer logo has gone through several changes over the years. Deere first registered it for use in 1876, it read "John Deere - Moline, Illinois". Interestingly, the first deer to appear on the logo was an African deer and not the American white tail used today. Over the years the wording changed and the deer was simplified into line art versus the illustration style of the original. Eventually the deer as the only thing on the logo and it simply read, "John Deere". The clean cut 1968 version was updated in 200 with the deer leaping up and forward rather than down and forward. The famous green and yellow leaping deer logo that you can get now at http://www.t-shirtking.com has become a hip and modern symbol of John Deere's and Americans' ingenuity and integrity.

THE CLASSIC

The John Deere Classic, a charitable golf tournament is played on a course built in the Friendship Farm in Illinois. For many years the farm had been one of the top Arabian horse breeding operations in the United States and the property still maintains a natural beauty to this day. In 2003, $1.5 million dollars was donated to more than 400 charities to benefit children, families and handicapped individuals. This is just one of the many reasons that John Deere was named one of the 100 Best Corporate Citizens for 2002 by Business Ethics magazine.

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