MOLINE, Ill. (AP) — A spokesman says Deere & Co., the world’s largest farm equipment maker, does not plan to move its headquarters out of the Quad Cities, quashing a rumor that sprang up following comments by the company’s chairman.

The company is “not holding discussions or meetings about relocating,” said Ken Golden, Deere’s director of strategic public relations.

Speculation apparently stemmed from a “misunderstanding” surrounding comments made at Deere’s annual shareholder meeting, Golden said in a statement last week to The (Moline) Dispatch & The Rock Island Argus. At a March 7 meeting, a shareholder asked Deere Chairman and CEO Robert Lane to respond to a rumor that the company was moving its headquarters from Moline.

“I haven’t been in any of those meetings,” Lane answered. He added that the company does not comment on rumors.

The subsequent misunderstanding deserved a clarification, Golden said. The company’s headquarters have been located in Moline for nearly 160 years.

Golden said he’d heard rumors before last week’s meeting, but didn’t feel then that a response was warranted.

“We are re-investing in the community,” Golden said.

Prairie Farms acquires Mississippi dairy company

KOSCIUSKO, Miss. (AP) — LuVel Dairy Products Inc., a family owned dairy in Kosciusko that has produced milk and ice cream in Mississippi for 88 years, has been sold to Prairie Farms Dairy Inc., of Carlinville, Ill.

Terms of the sale were not released by March 8. LuVel President Jimmy Briscoe announced the s