Watch 100 Years of John Deere Tractor History

Mar 01, 2018

The Legend Runs On After a Century in Business

2018 marks the 100^th anniversary of Deere & Company, a company that revolutionized the farm tractor and ushered in the modern era of farming. Although the company’s history stretches back a little further in time, it was Deere & Company’s purchase of the Waterloo Gasoline Engine Company in 1918 (a company based-in Waterloo, Iowa, that manufactured the Waterloo Boy tractor) that set them on a path to commercial success.

Over the decades, John Deere pioneered many features we still see in tractors today, including quick attach implements (1945), power steering (1954), roll guards for overturn protection (1966) and even the modern precision guidance system (2002). Fast-forward to 2018, with over 60,000 employees, the company continues to turn heads with sleek designs, emission reduction technologies, and more.

Check out the video below and see 100 years of progress in the making – enjoy!

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.