The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against John Deere, accusing it of boosting profits by forcing farmers to use authorized dealers for repairs. But the tractor giant called the lawsuit “meritless,” and pointed out it was filed in the final days of the outgoing Biden administration.
The FTC, along with Illinois and Minnesota, claimed Deere prevents farmers from being able to repair their own equipment or use independent shops. Instead, they say Deere forces owners to use authorized dealers, which increases farmers’ costs while the company makes billions in profit.
How does John Deere control who repairs its equipment?
“What they say John Deere is doing is that they’ve designed the equipment to require the use of John Deere’s service advisor software tool to complete the repairs for a certain number of repairs, and that tool is completely restricted to dealerships,” right-to-repair advocate Nathan Proctor told Straight Arrow News.
Large farm equipment, like tractors and combines, are increasingly built to be more reliant on computer systems. Equipment owners claim this makes it nearly impossible to diagnose and ultimately repair issues without Deere’s help.
“If you’re a farmer and your equipment breaks, the only place you can take it where you know they’re going to have all of the necessary parts, tools and information to complete the job is the dealership, and that is by design,” said Proctor, who serves as the senior director for the Public Interest Research Group’s Campaign for the Right to Repair.
How did John Deere respond?
“The complaint is based on flagrant misrepresentations of the facts and fatally flawed legal theories, and it punishes innovation and procompetitive product design,” Deere wrote in a statement.
Meanwhile, the company said it supports customers’ abilities to maintain and repair their own machines. The company announced earlier this week it was launching “additional self-repair capabilities.”
What’s in the FTC’s lawsuit?
In its lawsuit, the FTC said Deere’s Production and Precision Agriculture segment, which includes large tractors and combines, brought in $7 billion in operating profit in 2023.
“Unfair repair restrictions can mean farmers face unnecessary delays during tight planting and harvest windows. In rural communities, the restrictions can sometimes mean that farmers need to drive hours just to get their equipment fixed,” FTC chairperson Lina Khan said in a statement.
The commission voted 3-2 to bring the lawsuit, with both Republican commissioners dissenting. Notably, one of those is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to become the next FTC chair, Commissioner Andrew Ferguson.
What’s next for the lawsuit, and for repairing John Deere equipment?
Deere seized on comments made by Ferguson, who said the lawsuit “appears to be the result of brazen partisanship,” “lends to the suit the stench of partisan motivation,” and appears “taken in haste to beat President Trump into office.”
“We simply do not have the evidence to file this Complaint with any real confidence of our ultimate chance of success,” Ferguson said.
While Deere continues to contend the FTC is relying on “inaccurate information and assumptions,” Proctor and other right-to-repair advocates hope for a simple remedy to the problem.
“There’s a software tool that you need to complete the full range of repairs,” Proctor said. “That’s the software tool that should be available to independent mechanics and to farmers.”
Right-to-repair extends beyond tractors and big machinery. Advocates in the space have called for consumer tech manufacturers, like Apple, to make it easier to repair devices. In 2022, the FTC also took action against Harley-Davidson and Weber grills.
