“Needless to say, we expect infrastructure spending to provide a strong tailwind well into '25 and '26 across both our construction and road building segments, as dollars are awarded and projects commence.”

In context

“inventory availability. Looking forward, Deere inventory levels have recovered and are now in line with the industry. We expect slightly stronger sales through the back half of the year, which is embedded in our updated outlook. Demand will be driven by key end markets, where optimism remains strong. All of this is reflected in our order books, which for Construction and Forestry are full through the second quarter across most product lines, with compact construction equipment notably full through the end of the third quarter. Josh Jepsen: This is Jepsen. I'd like to emphasize quickly the runway that remains on government infrastructure projects in the U.S. Through 2023, roughly 40% of the IIJA dollars have been awarded, but relatively minimal amounts have actually been spent thus far. Needless to say, we expect infrastructure spending to provide a strong tailwind well into '25 and '26 across both our construction and road building segments, as dollars are awarded and projects commence. Josh Rohleder: Thanks for that color, Josh. It really helps contextualize the opportunity ahead. Shifting gears now. Let's talk about the importance of managing across varying end markets. Josh Beal, coming back to you, can you walk us through what we're doing to manage the current environment? Josh Beal: Yes, for sure. First and foremost, it's proactive actions to ensure we stay ahead of demand changes. All of our factories and product lines have a list of levers we pull, depending on the magnitude and direction of the volume change that we're seeing. Those efforts are ultimately grounded in our focus on inventory management, which we spoke about earlier. The underproduction in retail in certain geographies and production to retail in North America directly reflect this laser focus on”