Ahead of the company’s 100th anniversary of its entering the tractor market, John Deere expects agricultural production to rise despite the recent agricultural downturn, Chairman and CEO Samuel Allen told stockholders recently, the Quad-City Times reported. “For all our success the company has enjoyed in the last 180 years, there is no doubt in my mind that our best days are still to come,” Allen said. Deere made two major acquisitions in the last year: a $5 billion-plus deal with the German-based Wirtgen Group, a road construction equipment manufacturer, and the acquisition of Blue River Technology, a California-based startup that Allen said may greatly reduce chemicals used in fields.