(1)  Organization and Consolidation

The information in the notes and related commentary are presented in a format which includes data grouped as follows:

Equipment Operations – Includes the Company’s agriculture and turf operations and construction and forestry operations with financial services reflected on the equity basis.

Financial Services – Includes primarily the Company’s financing operations.

Consolidated – Represents the consolidation of the equipment operations and financial services. References to "Deere & Company" or "the Company" refer to the entire enterprise.

The Company uses a 52/53 week fiscal year with quarters ending on the last Sunday in the reporting period. The first quarter ends for fiscal year 2019 and 2018 were January 27, 2019 and January 28, 2018, respectively. Both periods contained 13 weeks.

Variable Interest Entities

The Company consolidates certain Variable Interest Entities (VIEs) related to retail note securitizations (see Note 12).

The Company also has an interest in a joint venture that manufactures construction equipment in Brazil for local and overseas markets. The joint venture is a VIE; however, the Company is not the primary beneficiary. Therefore, the entity’s financial results are not fully consolidated in the Company’s consolidated financial statements, but are included on an equity basis. The maximum exposure to losses at January 27, 2019 and October 28, 2018 in millions of dollars follows: