Kinze announces layoffs

Aug 02, 2024

The layoffs will affect almost 200 employees

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Another farm equipment manufacturer is reducing its workforce.

Kinze Manufacturing, a planter, grain cart and tillage equipment maker in Williamsburg, Iowa, is cutting its number of employees by 193 people, the company’s website says.

In total, Kinze employs 815 people, meaning this round of layoffs represents about 24 percent of the total workforce.

Iowa’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) list, says 192 employees are affected.

The company cites the “ongoing economic downturn in the agricultural sector” as the reason behind the decision.

“We deeply regret the necessity of this action,” Kinze President Susanne Veatch said in an Aug. 1 statement. “This decision was not made lightly, and it is a direct response to current ag market realities.”

Data indicates farmers have less money or are simply spending less money on equipment.

In February, for example, the USDA projected net farm income in 2024 to be $116 billion, down from $155 billion, or 25.5 percent, from 2023.

And June data from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers showed U.S. sales of 2-wheel tractors fell by 16.3 percent, and sales of 4-wheel-drive tractors fell by 1.3 per cent compared to June 2023.

Kinze isn’t the only ag company to announce layoffs this year.

In Iowa alone, multiple John Deere locations, Salford in Osceola and Bayer CropScience in Muscatine are letting employees go, the WARN list says.

And AGCO is laying off about 6 percent of its salaried workforce.

The restructuring program, announced in June, is “in response to increased weakening demand in the agriculture industry.”

And in April, CNH Industrial laid off more than 200 workers in Racine, Wis.

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