| Invested through |
|
|---|---|
| Asset Classes | Listed equity & Corporate bonds |
| Impact strategy | Impact Equities and Bonds |
| Bloomberg ticker | DE US |
| ISIN code | US2441991054 |
| Aligned with SDGs |
Deere & Co and its subsidiaries (collectively John Deere) is one the world's largest makers of farm equipment and is a major producer of construction, forestry, and commercial and residential lawn care equipment. The company has a portfolio of multiple brands, which provide a full line of innovative solutions for its customers in a variety of production systems throughout the lifecycle of their machines. Brands include John Deere, Wirtgen, Hagie, Mazzotti, Monosem, Blue River Technology and Harvest Profit.
The company's legacy goes back to 1837 when it started manufacturing agricultural equipment, although the present company was incorporated under the laws of Delaware in 1958. The company is based in Molina, Illinois, and employs approx. 82,000 workers."
Investment rationale
John Deere's strategy is all about providing agriculture tech products, solutions and services which support end users to prepare soil, to seed, to harvest crops but also to renovate roads. Its products contribute to better outcomes for its end customers, most notably farmers, with fewer resources required, including less labour time, less energy (e.g. fuel), nitrogen and crop protection products (e.g. herbicides, pesticides and fungicides). In that sense, John Deere's goal can be best described as to "Grow more with less".
The production and precision agriculture segment, John Deere's largest unit, is particularly worth mentioning when it comes to sustainability. Precision agriculture or smart farming means that plants get precisely the treatment they need, determined with great(er) accuracy thanks to technology, such as GPS, sensor technology, ICT and robotics. Precision agriculture equipment enables end users to work more accurately thereby reducing various inputs required. Examples in John Deere's case range from autonomous tractors to sprayers which use cameras technology and artificial intelligence to identify and distinguish weeds from healthy plants, and target application of herbicides. The John Deere Operations Center, the company's online farm management system, provides farmers data and insight so that they further optimize field management decisions.
In total 46% of the revenues of the company is aligned with one or more Triodos Transitions. 44% of revenues is aligned with the Food transition and 2% of revenues is aligned with the Energy Transition. The contribution to the Food transition comes from 44% of revenues related to the impact objective Sustainable Agriculture & Food.
The contribution to the Energy transition comes from 2% of revenues related to the impact objective Clean Transport.