When Deere & Co. does well, the Quad Cities typically does well.
And 2022 was an “another good year” for Deere, according to CEO John May, who spoke during a virtual shareholders meeting on Feb. 22.
“Deere’s performance in 2022 offers yet another proof point that our smart industrial strategy and operating model are contributing to our strong results,” Mr. May said during the annual meeting.
Perhaps Mr. May was being a little understated because the financials from Deere were quite extraordinary.
Net sales and earnings were the highest in company history in the fiscal year which ended Oct. 30, 2022, at $52.6 billion, while net income was $7.1 billion. Additionally, Mr. May said, Deere shareholders realized a total return on their investment of 17% in 2022 compared with a decline in the market overall and since last year’s annual meeting, John Deere increased the quarterly dividend rate by a total of 14%.
Deere is increasingly being seen as a technology company and Mr. May highlighted that emphasis in his remarks.
This year and last, Deere introduced some of the company’s biggest technological breakthroughs at the Consumer Technology’s CES show in Las Vegas, which bills itself as “The Most Influential Tech Event in the world” reported the QCBJ.
“Just last month, we had the privilege of delivering the opening keynote address at CES, highlighting our progress in robotics and artificial intelligence,” Mr. May said.
We applaud Deere and Mr. May on the results from 2022 and look forward to more success in 2023 and beyond.
RIP, ‘voice of the people’
There were few people in the Quad-Cities more recognizable than Bill Wundram.
For more than 70 years, Mr. Wundram was the voice of the people in this bi-state area through his columns in the daily newspaper, first the Davenport Democrat and Leader and then its successor, the Quad-City Times. We join with the entire community in mourning the loss of this iconic journalist, who died on Feb. 14 at the age of 98.
It’s hard to imagine anyone caring more for the community than Mr. Wundram. No story was too big or too small for the talented west Davenport native to handle. He delighted in seeing businesses thrive, but was not hesitant to call one out for failing to keep up its appearance or letting an empty building go to ruins.
His work with Rejuvenate Davenport helped turn around a struggling downtown area as the region worked to rise up from the economic losses left by the 1980s farm crisis. His words helped to cheer on others who led efforts to clean up downtown one demolition and one block at a time.
His key role in helping to organize the first Quad-City Times Bix 7 lives on in the success of the annual event, and his legacy is remembered with a statue at Bix Point.
“Is anybody there? Does anybody care?” was his mantra when he saw something that needed to be done.
Mr. Wundram cared. He cared deeply, and we are all the better for it.
