Steering Deere Clear of "Commodity Hell"

Deere & Co. was founded on innovation. The maker of agriculture, construction, and grounds-keeping equipment opened in 1837 when John Deere, a Vermont blacksmith who had resettled in Illinois, came up with a breakthrough product: a steel plow that, unlike earlier iron models, could slice through the rich soil of America's prairies.

After 169 years Deere (DE) is still producing new things. It's field-testing an eight-wheel tractor, for example, that can work a field entirely on its own. Guided by onboard computers and a GPS (global positioning system) device that takes signals from Deere's own satellite network, the machine can move precisely back and forth over hundreds of acres. The driver's only job: confirming on a touch screen which way the tractor will turn at the end of each row.