Deere & Company will lay off about 300 employees, close two plants and cut back production at a third as part of a streamlining effort, the company announced recently.

Facilities in Williamsburg, VA, and Jeffersonville, IN, will be closed, and operations at Horicon, WI., will be reduced as part of an effort to lower costs in Deere’s commercial and consumer equipment division.

The job cuts represent 7 percent of the division’s work force. The Williamsburg and Jeffersonville plants are expected to close by Oct. 31, 2002, the end of Deere’s fiscal year.

”While closing these locations is a necessary business decision, we remain committed to assist employees who are negatively affected by these actions,’ said John Jenkins, president of the division. Some employees will be offered transfers and Jenkins said the company will assist others in finding job opportunities outside the company.

Employment at the Horicon plant will be reduced through a special retirement incentive, the company said, and about 100 jobs there will be transferred from Horicon to Fuquay-Varina, NC.

Deere said these actions will result in pretax charges totaling $50 million over the third and fourth quarters. The announcement does not change the company’s outlook for operating margins in 2002, Deere said.