John Deere Invests $2.7M and 500+ Employee Mentors to Build Skills for Tomorrow’s Workforce

Three-year FIRST® partnership connects students in communities across the country to hands-on robotics experience and pathways to careers in agriculture, manufacturing, and technology


MOLINE, Ill. (April 21, 2026) — John Deere announced a three-year partnership with FIRST® (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), building on their fifteen-year partnership to continue expanding access to hands-on robotics programs that build the technical skills critical to careers in agriculture, manufacturing, construction, and technology.

John Deere has awarded FIRST a three-year grant totaling $2.7 million, expected to reach more than 9,000 youth in communities across the globe. In FIRST programs, student teams work together to design, build, and program robots to complete specific real-world challenges—such as navigating a course autonomously or executing a precision task under time pressure.

Those experiences develop the same problem-solving, collaboration, and technical skills that define careers in fields from precision agriculture to advanced manufacturing.

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