Deere Certifies Financial Statements

MOLINE - Sep 11/02 - SNS -- Deere & Company says Chief Executive Officer Robert W. Lane and Chief Financial Officer Nathan J. Jones have signed and filed statements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) certifying the accuracy of Deere & Company filings made with the SEC since December 21, 2001.

The certification of previously filed reports by Deere & Company is being completed ahead of the September 16, 2002 deadline established for the company by the SEC. In June, all public companies with annual revenues in excess of $1.2 billion were ordered by the SEC to certify their financial reports. Subsequently, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 required additional certifications.

"John Deere has a long tradition of integrity and this permeates all that we do," said Lane, Deere's chairman and chief executive officer. "In signing these statements, we are assuring shareholders, customers, employees, suppliers and the general public that our financial reports are accurate. In doing so, we hope to help enhance the public's confidence in publicly owned corporations."

The statements filed by Deere certify the 2001 Deere & Company annual report filed on Form 10-K; the company's quarterly financial reports on Form 10-Q; all current reports subsequently filed on Form 8-K; and the company's proxy statement for its most recent annual meeting of shareholders. In signing the statements filed with the SEC, the Deere executives certified that the financial reports did not omit any material information and did not include any material misstatements.

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