Many Iowans associate John Deere with farm equipment like tractors and combines for working with corn and soybeans, but in some parts of the world, that same John Deere green now means sugar cane. Ken Golden, spokesman for the Quad Cities-based company, says an agri-trade show this week in Brazil marks a debut for Deere.
Deere is moving the Cameco brand to the John Deere green and yellow to strengthen the power of the brand worldwide. Golden says Cameco makes sugar cane harvesting equipment and the company was bought by Deere several years ago. He says Deere bought Cameco in 1998 and is now the leader in sugar cane harvesting as well as in several other areas of harvesting and Deere decided to link all of those lines under the single brand name.
He says the mechanization of sugar cane harvesting is relatively recent, at least compared to agriculture in general. He says putting the John Deere brand on these machines provides an outward signal to customers that the sugar cane harvesting business is fully integrated with other aspects of the world’s leading ag equipment company.
Golden says it’s the first time the green-and-yellow was put on sugar cane harvesting equipment and “it’s an important move for us.” Deere plans to sell the sugar cane harvesting equipment with the new colors in the U.S., too. Louisiana, Florida and Hawaii are three of the top U.S. producers of cane sugar. Brazil is the world’s top sugar producer. The U.S. ranks 10th.