John Deere Planter History: Where Did It All Begin?

Feb 23, 2022

Farmers everywhere know that in order to make the most out of their time during the planting season, they need the right equipment on their side. This is where planters show their true value, especially those produced by John Deere. Today, the company’s planters allow producers to plant corn, soybeans, cotton, sugar beets, and popcorn accurately at 10 mph thanks to top-notch technological features. But, where did it all begin?

planter

A Timeline of John Deere Planter History

To better understand how planting equipment got to where it is today, we’ve put together a list of some of the most critical moments of John Deere planter history. Let’s take a look at how the foundation for these pieces of equipment was built.

The Early Beginnings

Driven by the industry’s need for an accurate corn planter, Charles Deere (John Deere’s son) and Alvah Mansur (a Deere family business partner) formed the Deere & Mansur Company to manufacture planters. At the time, the planter company was operated separately from the Deere plow company in a small two-story building in Moline.

Soon after the partnership was formed, Deere & Mansur released the Deere Rotary Adjustable Corn Planter, which hosted an innovative rotary mechanism that made it an instant hit. Due to the success, the operation outgrew its small space and was moved into a larger location in Moline where planter innovation continued.

1887

Deere & Mansur introduced the Deere Center Lever Corn Planter, which featured a center lever that was designed to easily raise or lower the runners. The lever could be accessed by hand or foot to accommodate the farmers that unfortunately lost limbs in the Civil War.

Mid-1890s

With planting accuracy in mind, the Accumulative Single-Kernel Drill Planter (increased accuracy by 15 percent) and Edge Drop Planter were introduced. The Edge Drop Planter metered seeds out by thickness, as opposed to length, also increasing planting accuracy.

1899

Deere & Mansur was recognized as the largest planter manufacturer in the world.

1901

The No. 9 check-row corn planter was brought to the market. Due to its ease of use and supreme accuracy at the time, this planter was dubbed as “the foundation of John Deere planter leadership” by a 1940s The Furrow magazine article.

1911

Deere & Mansur was acquired by Deere & Company, as they eyed a full line of farm equipment manufacturing.

1913

The No. 999 was created. The planter hosted natural-drop seed plates, enclosure of both clutch and variable-drop gears, a safety fertilizer attachment, tongue truck, simple positive valve action, and special plates to handle the various types of hybrid corn.

1935

Due to the popularity of tractors, the need for a faster planter became apparent. In response, Deere released the four-row No. 450 Tractor Corn Planter. When attached to a tractor, this planter allowed farmers to plant 40 to 50 acres in a single day.

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Video: Why Your Food Future Could be Trapped in a Seed Morgue

In a world of PowerPoint overload, Rex Bernardo stands out. No bullet points. No charts. No jargon. Just stories and photographs. At this year’s National Association for Plant Breeding conference on the Big Island of Hawaii, he stood before a room of peers — all experts in the science of seeds — and did something radical: he showed them images. He told them stories. And he asked them to remember not what they saw, but how they felt.

Bernardo, recipient of the 2025 Lifetime Achievement Award, has spent his career searching for the genetic treasures tucked inside what plant breeders call exotic germplasm — ancient, often wild genetic lines that hold secrets to resilience, taste, and traits we've forgotten to value.

But Bernardo didn’t always think this way.

“I worked in private industry for nearly a decade,” he recalls. “I remember one breeder saying, ‘We’re making new hybrids, but they’re basically the same genetics.’ That stuck with me. Where is the new diversity going to come from?”

For Bernardo, part of the answer lies in the world’s gene banks — vast vaults of seed samples collected from every corner of the globe. Yet, he says, many of these vaults have quietly become “seed morgues.” “Something goes in, but it never comes out,” he explains. “We need to start treating these collections like living investments, not museums of dead potential.”

That potential — and the barriers to unlocking it — are deeply personal for Bernardo. He’s wrestled with international policies that prevent access to valuable lines (like North Korean corn) and with the slow, painstaking science of transferring useful traits from wild relatives into elite lines that farmers can actually grow. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. But he’s convinced that success starts not in the lab, but in the way we communicate.

“The fact sheet model isn’t cutting it anymore,” he says. “We hand out a paper about a new variety and think that’s enough. But stories? Plants you can see and touch? That’s what stays with people.”

Bernardo practices what he preaches. At the University of Minnesota, he helped launch a student-led breeding program that’s working to adapt leafy African vegetables for the Twin Cities’ African diaspora. The goal? Culturally relevant crops that mature in Minnesota’s shorter growing season — and can be regrown year after year.

“That’s real impact,” he says. “Helping people grow food that’s meaningful to them, not just what's commercially viable.”

He’s also brewed plant breeding into something more relatable — literally. Coffee and beer have become unexpected tools in his mission to make science accessible. His undergraduate course on coffee, for instance, connects the dots between genetics, geography, and culture. “Everyone drinks coffee,” he says. “It’s a conversation starter. It’s a gateway into plant science.”