𝕴𝖔𝖜𝖆𝕳𝖎𝖑𝖑𝖙𝖔𝖕𝖕𝖊𝖗

OTTUMWA, Iowa – John Deere is once again selling out Iowa communities by announcing plans to close its Ottumwa Works and Clarion Hagie plants over the next few years. The company will move windrower production from the historic Ottumwa site, its first Iowa factory, dating back to 1911, to the Des Moines Works by the end of fiscal 2027, followed by round baler production by the end of fiscal 2028, after which the plant will shut. Hagie STS sprayer manufacturing is shifting from Clarion to Thibodaux, Louisiana, with that facility expected to close by fiscal 2029. Small planter work is also moving from Moline to Paton, Iowa. These decisions come after years of the company shipping Iowa jobs to Mexico, including the 2022 relocation of mower-conditioner production from Ottumwa to Monterrey. At normal volumes, the latest closures would affect roughly 300 workers, though Deere is currently running well below capacity amid weak farm demand. Plant shutdowns still hit hard in towns that have relied on these factories for generations. The company continues to treat Iowa as a place it can leave whenever it wants rather than a state it should prioritize. However, offering a glimmer of hope, Deere also announced over the summer that it plans to hire more than 400 people across its factories and call back more than 275 previously laid-off workers at its Waterloo operations in the coming months, bringing total recalls since 2024 to around 1,000. All employees previously laid off in Waterloo, the Quad Cities, Ottumwa, and Dubuque have now been asked to return, with additional hiring planned at other Iowa sites. Bringing those workers back is a major step in the right direction. Nonetheless, the company is still failing to fully put Iowa first, showing the same pattern of treating the state as optional whenever costs or demand shift. The John Deere Foundation has affirmed nearly $1 million in support for the affected communities, but that does not change the fact that another round of Iowa factories is being shut down. Business inquiries, corrections, story leads, or contributor requests? Email us at [email protected]. Photo: Samuel Solcan via Unsplash

DES MOINES, Iowa – Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann is facing growing calls from the party’s base to resign after a disastrous 2026 midterm that saw Democrats seize the governor’s office, a U.S. Senate seat, 3 U.S. House seats, the attorney general’s office, and the auditor’s office, while shrinking Republican majorities in the Legislature. Kaufmann acknowledged the night as “disappointing” and pointed to remaining GOP control of the Legislature as a “red wall,” but that framing has done little to quiet anger over the scale of the losses. Lahn entered the general election with Derek Wulf as his running mate, a choice Kaufmann publicly called “excellent” and a “valuable addition to the ticket.” Critics inside the party argue the ticket and the overall effort never fully united behind the nominee who had just beaten the establishment favorite Randy Feenstra. Republicans have been very blunt in their assessments online. On Twitter, one user wrote that Kaufmann “fucked the state for the next four years” and told him to “get the fuck away from my party.” Another user said the loss was on Kaufmann “for sabotaging Zach’s campaign.” A third user said he “needs to be removed” because his “power hangover is done,” and urged Iowa Republicans to “unite against you in full force.” A fourth user said he “completely sandbagged Zach Lahn” and claimed there was a plan for “Feenstra to lose so his kid Bobby can run in the next cycle.” The same post accused the Iowa GOP of “saddling Zach with Derek Wulf,” knowing he was a problematic candidate. A fifth said he’s just another “boomer who fucked things up again.” Kaufmann’s long tenure, during which he helped build the Iowa GOP into the most dominant force it's ever been, delivering historic statewide and legislative victories in the process, has not shielded him from the fallout. The scale of the Republican collapse has still left him as the most visible target for those who believe the party’s leadership failed to adapt or fully back its own nominee when it mattered. Business inquiries, corrections, story leads, or contributor requests? Email us at [email protected]. Photo: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ