Deere and Company is forecasting a sharp fall in full-year profit with farmers and ranchers struggling as the coronavirus pandemic and shutdowns crush demand for farm and construction machinery. Deere said today it expects fiscal 2020 profit of $1.62 billion. The 183-year-old company had a profit of $3.25 billion in 2019. In the most recent quarter, Deere’s farm machinery sales fell 18-percent, to less than $6 billion and construction and forestry sales were off 25-percent, to barely more than $2.25 billion.
