Deere has reported a 43 percent fall in first-quarter profit and cut its full-year profit forecast as grain prices and weak farm income weighed on demand for agricultural machinery, particularly in the US and Canada which account for 62 per cent of its total revenue. Deere also cut its profit forecast to $1.8 billion from $1.9 billion.

Sales of Deere's farm and turf machinery are expected to fall 23 percent globally this year, it added, whilst Deere's overall equipment sales are expected to fall about 19 percent in the current quarter ending April 30.

The company's sales have been hit as bumper corn harvests have driven down prices, leaving farmers with less cash to spend on equipment.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said last week that net farm income is expected to fall 32 percent to $73.6 billion in 2015, the lowest since 2009 and a drop of nearly 43 percent from the record high of $129 billion in 2013.

Deere chairman and CEO Samuel Allen however said the company has seen much worse in previous agricultural slowdowns.

“Even with a continued pullback in the agricultural sector, John Deere expects to remain solidly profitable in 2015,” Allen said in a statement. “Our forecast reflects a level of results much better than we’ve experienced in previous downturns. This illustrates our success establishing a wider range of revenue sources and a more durable business model.”