Deanna Kovar joined Deere & Company in 2000. During her nearly three decades at Deere, Kovar has gained an extensive background in equipment design and marketing, as well as precision technologies, including positions at Deere's Intelligent Solutions Group and later, as vice president of Production & Precision Ag Systems. Kovar grew up on a Wisconsin dairy farm and earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural business management from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA from Loyola University in Chicago.

Today, Kovar is Deere & Company's president, Worldwide Agriculture & Turf Division, Production & Precision Ag, and is responsible for its North and South American and Australian markets. As president, Kovar oversees a team responsible for the development of new equipment and technologies for the producers of grain, cotton and sugar. She was appointed president in November 2025.

DTN/Progressive Farmer spent time talking with Kovar at the 2026 Commodity Classic in San Antonio, Texas. We talked about Deere's outlook, improvement in its construction and forestry business, and we talked about tariffs, the cost of parts and coming parts business that offers customers a new option if they wish not to purchase Deere original equipment parts.

Read excerpts of our interview with Kovar below. It has been edited for clarity and context.

You can see the complete video interview here: https://www.dtnpf.com/….

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DTN/Progressive Farmer: John Deere is offering a more positive outlook for 2026 than it was just a short time ago. What has changed?

Deanna Kovar: We're seeing orders grow in construction and forestry. We're also seeing it in our small Ag and Turf, which is more the dairy and livestock and the consumer segments. We know that the rest of the year here in North America for our large ag equipment, which is the part of the business I'm responsible for, is still going to be tough.

DTN/Progressive Farmer: Even in difficult times, why does Deere continue to invest in technology and new platforms?

Kovar: John Deere has seen three years in a row in the production and precision ag segments double-digit down sales. (However), we know that we've got to keep delivering for the future. We're continuing to invest in research and development to make sure we can bring the next technologies and the next products that will help farmers, no matter the cycle.

DTN/Progressive Farmer: Deere continues to contend with a growing bill for tariffs. Is it passing along those costs to farmers?

Kovar: (Deere) will have about $1.2 billion of tariff expense in 2026, three times what it was in 2025. And as you know, we can't take huge pricing increases to cover those tariffs because of where the ag economy is. We have absorbed a lot of the tariffs, and we're focused on costs in our business.

DTN/Progressive Farmer: Deere has been looking at the cost of parts and cost of technology. Would you explain?

Kovar: We've lowered prices on almost 190,000 parts over the last 12 months to make sure that they're competitive. We continue to monitor and check every part number, and we'll lower it when they're out of bounds. Second is our technology strategy. A farmer today can get the core of our tech stack, a (G5 or G5 Plus) display, a (StarFire 7500) receiver and (JDLink M or R Modem) bundled together at a much lower cost than they would have in the past. This is our Precision Essentials kit. It allows (the farmer) to add on this base technology for about $2,500 to his tractors and combines. Then the farmer can choose (technologies) they're going to put on top of that.

DTN/Progressive Farmer: Explain Deere's second tier parts strategy.

Kovar: This summer we'll be offering more choice to farmers to allow them to decide whether they want the original equipment part or whether they want an alternative (part) from John Deere. We'll be offering them at our John Deere dealers, but also through other places where customers are buying agricultural parts today.

DTN/Progressive Farmer: Deere put a prototype E98 8R tractor out on display at the Commodity Classic; a tractor that runs on ethanol without DEF. What's this about?

Kovar: We spend a lot of time advocating for biofuels, and we asked ourselves, what can Deere do to demonstrate how committed we are to the biofuel industry? And we said, why not put E98 in a tractor and see how it goes? We're excited about the interest it has received. We still have work to do to bring it to market. We're also going to continue to work with the industry, because it's not just about making a tractor that can [burn ethanol]. It's about making sure the fuel is readily available and cost effective for the farmer. (But) we've been certainly amazed with the way our engineers have made it work. We're also grateful that the industry seems to be embracing it, as well.

For more about the tractor, see: "John Deere Displays E98 8R Tractor," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Dan Miller can be reached at dan.miller@dtn.com

Follow him on social platform X @DMillerPF

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