After some difficult financial challenges, Iowa’s largest manufacturing employer is seeing an upswing. Deere and Company reports a worldwide net income of 141-point-eight million dollars for the second quarter, which ended April 30th. That’s an 11-percent rise from the same quarter last year. Global sales and revenue for the Quad Cities-based Deere was near four billion dollars, also a rise, which company officials say is due to higher agricultural equipment sales, though mostly overseas. Deere says farm machinery sales in the U-S has been strained by low commodity prices and uncertainty over farm legislation. The Farm Bill, which President Bush signed Monday, is not expected to have any effect on Deere’s sales this year, but gradual improvement is expected.
