Why John Deere green? Almost everyone on the planet can hum part of the popular country song "John Deere Green."
Colors instantly identify major farm equipment brands and farmers as well as collectors are "dyed in the wool" dedicated to a particular hue. For example, we know Caterpillar is yellow, International Harvester is red, and Allis-Chalmers is orange. While the color green is almost exclusively associated with John Deere, no one really can explain how this industry-leading brand of farm equipment ended up bearing green paint instead of any other color. Given the timing of this topic (St. Patrick’s Day was Saturday), you might think I’m going to tell you that John Deere was Irish. Nope. Sorry, the leaping-deer logo was not preceded by little leprechauns nor did John Deere rely on shamrocks for luck. Some collectors joke that John Deere chose green paint because it was the color of money, meaning the equipment cost a lot of greenbacks! Others think the connection had something to do with the vast green corn and soybean fields that surrounded Deere’s Midwestern headquarters in Moline. It’s true the green paint looked good in the lush fields. According to Dr. Les Stegh, Deere’s Archivist, "Green has been used since the late 19th century; the green & yellow combination was not uniformly adopted until the 1930s." Looking back at early products, we see that many companies made implements that were some combination of green, red and yellow. For example, the Dain hay loader and the Deere & Mansur corn planters commonly used this color trio. Over the years, the majority of Deere’s plows, cultivators and other implements were mostly green with both yellow and red accents.
A Green Girl philosophy The Green Girl’s first guess as to why John Deere went green for good has to do with the acquisition of the Waterloo Boy line, which was already painted green with red and yellow trim. I figured Deere wanted to carry on the strength of that brand name and color scheme when it built the Model D with the John Deere name on it. From then on, the decision was automatic. Every John Deere tractor was green with yellow accents. "Apple green" is the chosen color However, the special green hue has been important to John Deere long before the 1923 acquisition of the Waterloo Boy tractor line. Just after the turn of the century (1900), C.C. Webber, head of the Minneapolis branch, complained to Charles Deere that the factory was not doing a good job of finishing the implements with the "Apple Green" paint. He suggested that "the ‘Apple Green’ be restored to its original bright green and darkened as much as possible and yet remain the same to the eye of the trade." Today, that color is still critical to Deere’s brand. In fact, the factory refers to "John Deere Green" as XXXX. In any event, St. Patrick’s Day is a great excuse for fans of anything and everything "John Deere Green" to celebrate their favorite color. Just be sure to wear your green so you don’t get pinched! Next week, we’ll get back to the Related Company series with a column that will cover Deere’s hay machinery line made by Dain and memorabilia associated with the company’s Carrollton, Missouri and Ottumwa, Iowa locations.
Text Ý © 2000 Brenda Kruse. Photos by Brenda Kruse unless otherwise noted. |
