(Radio Iowa) – Iowa’s largest manufacturing employer is reporting a drop in income but a rise in sales. John Deere is reporting first quarter net income of 903-million dollars. That’s down more than 321-million from the first quarter a year ago. Worldwide net sales and revenues for Quad Cities-based Deere rose five-percent in the quarter to more than nine-and-a half billion, up from about eight-billion last year.

Deere chairman and C-E-O John May calls the performance “impressive” given last fall’s U-A-W strike as well as “persistent challenges posed by the supply chain and pandemic.”