On April 11, during Spring Jubilee, Richard Morthland will perform a first person portrayal of John Deere. This free program, sponsored by the Illinois Humanities Council and the BHHA, will start at 2 p.m. in the Dairy Building. John Deere’s agricultural innovations, especially the self-scouring steel plow, monumentally impacted farming methods during the formative years of the United States, making expansion into the vast prairies and plains possible. Richard Morthland — farmer, teacher, and seasoned public speaker — portrays Deere, inviting audiences to ponder not only the history lessons to be learned from his career but also the human lessons to be learned from his life.