An official says “caution on the part of customers” is being blamed for Deere and Company’s plan to temporarily shut down its tractor-making factory in Waterloo. Deere spokesman Greg Derrick says production is being slowed down at many of the company’s facilities.Derrick, who works at Deere’s company headquarters in Moline, Illinois, says about two thousand workers at the Waterloo Works will be idled for a week beginning April 23rd. Derrick says many other Deere facilities will be seeing “production slowdowns,” including several construction equipment makers in Iowa. Derrick blames the economic forecast for the caution among customers.Deere officials are closely monitoring the foot-and-mouth disease situation in Europe and other parts of the world. Derrick says any possible impact by that disease on farm machinery sales is still uncertain.
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