John Deere Strike Another Unknown for Farmers

This is the last thing we need during harvest. More than 10,000 John Deere UAW members are now on strike. The strike is affecting 14 John Deere manufacturing plants in a number of states. So, it sounds like these employees are building new equipment. But, the first question that came to me, what about all John Deere employees at the regional parts warehouses and others in the John Deere parts distribution system?

Going into harvest we knew replacement parts, at lease some of them were already in short supply due to the COVID shutdown and all the "supply chain issues." Maybe the John Deere strike will not have any impact on getting replacement parts but it sure will not help the issue either. This can be added to the list of all the unknowns farmers are dealing with right during harvest. Diesel fuel costs are moving a lot higher, fertilizer this fall is about 50 percent higher than last year, just to mention a couple.

If I stop in at my John Deere dealer needing a part they might have it. If they don't they can check all other John Deere dealers in the area to see if they have it. If they do I can drive over and get it. If the part I need is at the regional parts warehouse it can be shipped to my dealer by the next morning. If not maybe a dealer in another state might have it.

Then my dealer and the other dealer work out a swap for the part I need. Typically that happens a couple times a week during harvest. One day last week my dealer swapped with other dealers 11 times in one day! It is never a good time to have a breakdown, but this year is probably a very bad time! However, dealers are great at doing everything they can to get you rolling again. We WILL get the harvest done no matter what obstacles come our way!