John Deere

Founded by blacksmith John Deere in 1837, Deere & Company grew from a one-man plow shop into the world's largest agricultural equipment maker. Its two-cylinder "Johnny Popper" tractors of the 1930s–50s and the New Generation models that followed in 1960 are among the most collected tractors in the world, and the green-and-yellow livery remains the most recognizable brand in farming.