Higher Tariffs, Lower Sales and Profits for Deere in Fiscal Third Quarter
Deere & Co. posted $12.018 billion in its fiscal third quarter ended July 27, 2025, compared to $13.152 billion for the same period in the third quarter of 2024, an 8.6-percent decline. Both agricultural sales and construction and forestry sales were hit by higher production costs caused by higher tariffs, partially offset by favorable product mix.
Construction & forestry net sales dropped 5 percent in the fiscal third quarter, while production and precision agriculture net sales declined by 16 percent. Operating profit tumbled 47 percent in the construction & forestry segment, and 50 percent in production & precision agriculture.
For the first nine months of the fiscal year, total net sales and revenue totaled $33.290 billion, compared to $40.572 billion for the first nine months of fiscal 2024, a 17.9-percent decline. Production & precision agriculture’s net sales declined 24 percent, while construction & forestry net sales dropped 22.3 percent.
Operating profit for the nine month period dipped 38 percent, with production & precision agriculture declining 46 percent and construction & forestry declining 60 percent.
“By proactively managing inventory, we’ve matched production to retail demand, enabling our company and dealers to respond swiftly to market shifts and customer needs,” said John May, chairman and CEO of John Deere. “By continuing to address the high levels of used equipment in the industry, we’re building a healthier market for everyone—our customers, our dealers, and our business—even in these challenging times.”
About the Author
Michael Roth
Editor
Michael Roth has covered the equipment rental industry full time for RER since 1989 and has served as the magazine’s editor in chief since 1994. He has nearly 30 years experience as a professional journalist. Roth has visited hundreds of rental centers and industry manufacturers, written hundreds of feature stories for RER and thousands of news stories for the magazine and its electronic newsletter RER Reports. Roth has interviewed leading executives for most of the industry’s largest rental companies and manufacturers as well as hundreds of smaller independent companies. He has visited with and reported on rental companies and manufacturers in Europe, Central America and Asia as well as Mexico, Canada and the United States. Roth was co-founder of RER Reports, the industry’s first weekly newsletter, which began as a fax newsletter in 1996, and later became an online newsletter. Roth has spoken at conventions sponsored by the American Rental Association, Associated Equipment Distributors, California Rental Association and other industry events and has spoken before industry groups in several countries. He lives and works in Los Angeles when he’s not traveling to cover industry events.