In the fields around the Quad Cities in northwest Illinois, the state’s biggest cash crops look amazing these days. The corn stands tall, and the soybeans are green and lush. But nearby, at the headquarters of Deere & Co. in Moline, a bumper harvest can’t make up for hostile policies from Washington, D.C.

Tariffs will cost the farm equipment maker $600 million this year, and the company just announced 238 layoffs at plants in Moline, East Moline and Waterloo, Iowa. No one can say for sure what the tariff rules will be in a month, a year or beyond, and that uncertainty is creating havoc in a farm sector that can’t function efficiently without advance planning.

While nobody would wish for a bad crop, the healthy harvest expected in the weeks ahead brings its own issues. Abundant supplies t

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