Deere & Company

Deere & Company is a U.S.-based manufacturer of agricultural, construction, forestry, and grounds-care equipment. Water at Deere's manufacturing facilities is used for cooling, rinsing, cleaning, painting, and other production activities. The company's water program has focused on its water-scarce regions, especially Mexico, India, and China.

Deere's most notable water achievement was its operational improvement initiative at water-scarce manufacturing sites. By 2022, all such sites had adopted Deere's water best-management practices, up from 21% in 2019. These practices cut water use at water-scarce sites by 8% from 2017 levels through more efficient rinsing, cleaning, paint systems, and cooling.

The most detailed example was Deere's Mexican manufacturing sites, which cut 7.4 million gallons of water in fiscal 2022 compared with the 2017 baseline. Staff replaced water-based cooling towers with dry ones, addressed reverse-osmosis and softener maintenance, increased leak detection, reused HVAC condensate in floor cleaning, and installed waterless urinals. Together, these changes tackled multiple major sources of water demand rather than relying on one water-conservation measure.

Deere also aided watersheds near its Mexican manufacturing facilities. For five years ending in 2022, 298 employee volunteers planted 860 native trees on fire-ravaged Zapalinam Mountain to help stabilize the soil and protect an important regional water source.

However, companywide water consumption remained unchanged from 2021 at 23,900 megaliters and exceeded its 2020 total. Deere did not quantify reuse, wastewater discharges, or the share of water use in water-stressed regions; later reports deprioritized water, though wastewater and pesticide use remain potential sources of water pollution.