As Jerry and Claudia Schreiner work to move their vending business to Rock Island, they're noticing a disturbing trend on the delivery routes.
"It's less money being spent on the vending machines because of layoffs, the not hiring and attrition," he said.
Their business, Vander Vending, which offers snacks and drinks, produced $2 million in sales during 2015.
Many of the region's top employers have been its bread and butter.
But these days, employees at big companies are cutting back on the chips and soda.
"Ag is down, and that affects everybody," he continued. "A lot of people don't realize how much a big company like Deere has a foothold here."
In East Moline, another 120 Deere & Company workers face indefinite layoffs on September 6, 2016.
That puts some 2,000 Deere workers on layoffs in Illinois and Iowa.
One of Jerry's clients also dropped its workforce from 80 to 18 over the last three years.
The latest numbers show that the Quad Cities lost 5,500 jobs over the last year.
"You're going to have down periods of time that you're maybe going to be unemployed or make less money," said Deere retiree Jerry Miller. "That's just part of life."
But the challenging farm economy also affects manufacturing jobs.
When one sector is down in the Quad Cities, others also hurt.
At Deere & Company's annual meeting, shareholders braced for sales to drop by over $2 billion in 2016.
"These smaller companies that were producing extra parts, they're just not needed any more," said Marion Calmer, owner of Calmer Corn Heads.
Vander Vending is riding the wave by learning to adapt.
Its 10-person staff will expand to serve 320 clients around the Quad Cities.
The company is still making about $40,000 in sales each week and plans to grow.
"We find that we're having to go out and get more accounts to make the company successful," he concluded.
Until the cyclical farm economy comes around again, they'll be monitoring change and changing with it.