Deere & Co. and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission have agreed to settle a joint lawsuit brought against Deere by the FTC and five states alleging that Deere unlawfully limited the ability of farmers and independent repair providers to perform repairs on Deere farm equipment.
Under the settlement, the tractor manufacturer agreed to provide farmers and independent repair shops the same equipment repair resources, including software, that it currently gives authorized Deere dealers, the FTC said in a news release. The requirement lasts for 10 years, and the FTC and plaintiff states, including Illinois, Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, will monitor compliance.
“Today’s settlement enables farmers to do what they’ve done for generations—fix their own tractors and other farm equipment—without having to pay an authorized John Deere dealer to do it for them,” FTC Bureau of Competition Director Daniel Guarnera said in a statement Wednesday. “The settlement with Deere will help lower costs for American farmers. The FTC will continue fighting against anticompetitive restrictions on American consumers’ right to repair.”
According to the FTC, Deere makes the only software repair tools that can perform all electronic repairs on Deere equipment. However, the company historically has only allowed its authorized dealers to use those tools, “forcing farmers to rely on authorized dealers for many necessary repairs,” the FTC said.
As a result, “Deere unlawfully acquired and maintained monopoly power in markets for repair services for Deere farm equipment,” the agency said. This practice allegedly resulted in service delays and raised farmers’ repair costs.
Repair services that Deere must provide to farmers and independent repair shops include reading, clearing and resetting electronic fault codes; reprogramming of electronic components; restarting a machine after an emissions-related shutdown; and viewing and searching technical manuals and other information.
The Moline, Illinois-based company will also have to make any future repair resources given to more than 50% of its authorized dealers available to farmers and independent repair providers. In addition, the company will have to tell its authorized dealers to mention that these resources are available, and it will have to provide the public with this information.
The settlement “is good news for our customers and for the future of how Deere equipment is supported,” Denver Caldwell, Deere’s vice president of aftermarket and customer support, said in a statement. “Producers and equipment operators demand flexible and world class capabilities enabling the maintenance and repair of their machines; we are and will continue to deliver on that expectation.”
Deere has faced a number of “right to repair” lawsuits in recent years. These lawsuits stem from consumers’ desire to repair their own products, from cell phones to tractors, instead of needing to rely on authorized dealers or the original manufacturer.
New laws have sought to address this issue. However, right-to-repair advocates say there is more work to be done as products become more technologically advanced and difficult for for consumers and independent repair shops to work on.
In April, Deere agreed to pay $99 million as part of a settlement to resolve a federal class-action lawsuit alleging that it conspired to monopolize its repair services market. The settlement applies to people who paid authorized dealers to repair their large equipment purchased from Deere starting on Jan. 10, 2018.
