The Federal Trade Commission sued Deere & Company, a leading farm equipment maker, on Wednesday, accusing it of unfairly preventing farmers from repairing its equipment themselves or through independent shops, raising costs for farmers.
The lawsuit represents a notable sign of support from the federal government for a grassroots “right to repair” movement that has long sought legislation to require companies, especially those that make tech gadgets using computer chips, to drop proprietary restrictions in repairs.
“Illegal repair restrictions can be devastating to farmers, who rely on affordable and timely repairs to harvest their crops and earn their income,” said Lina Khan, chair of the FTC, in a statement announcing the lawsuit, which the agency filed along with Illinois and Minnesota attorneys general.
The company, known for its green and yellow John Deere products, has become more dependent on computer components in recent decades. Amid that change, it has taken steps to ensure that only its authorized dealers can access a software tool necessary for many farm equipment repairs, according to the FTC’s lawsuit, which aims to stop what the agency considers anti-competitive behavior.
Contrary to right-to-repair laws, which have been passed in many states, manufacturers have argued that access to the software could raise security concerns and the risk of intellectual property theft.
Deere said in a statement Wednesday that the lawsuit ignored the company’s commitment to self-repair by customers and that Deere would defend itself “vigorously” against the government’s allegations. On Tuesday, the company said it was taking additional steps to enhance customers’ ability to repair their equipment.
“Our recent discussions with the committee revealed that the company still lacked key information about John Deere’s industry and business practices,” said Denver Caldwell, vice president of customer support.
The FTC’s complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, represents a final push in the Biden administration’s broader efforts to make repairs less expensive and time-consuming. In a 2021 executive order to promote competition across the U.S. economy, President Biden called on the FTC to prevent equipment manufacturers from restricting people’s ability to repair items themselves or at third-party shops.
Ms. Khan, during her tenure at the helm of the FTC, has drawn fire from the business world for her efforts to curb the power of some of America’s biggest companies, from Big Tech to grocery chains. The agency has targeted the repair practices of several companies, including those of Harley-Davidson, which in 2022 agreed to settle an FTC case accusing it of unlawfully limiting buyers’ repair rights.
In 2023, facing pressure from farmers and advocates, Deere signed an agreement with the American Farm Bureau Federation, promising to provide farmers and independent shops with the tools and information needed to service the company’s equipment. But critics argued that these steps did not go far enough.
“Basically, it’s allowed John Deere to say we agreed to do these things, but there’s no enforcement requiring them to do these things,” said Gay Gordon-Byrne, the executive director of the Repair Association, a trade group. which has lobbied for right-to-repair legislation for over a decade. “Farmers find it useless.”
The five-member FTC voted 3 to 2 in favor of suing Deere, with the two Republican commissioners dissenting — including Andrew Ferguson, who has been tapped by President-elect Donald J. Trump to succeed Ms. Khan. How the suit will fare under the incoming Trump administration remains to be seen.
Michael Carrier, a Rutgers University law professor who focuses on antitrust law, said there hasn’t been much antitrust enforcement in the agricultural industry to date, making it difficult to predict where the Trump administration’s regulators will land. It’s unclear, he said, whether the lawsuit against Deere would have been filed under the FTC’s Mr. Trump
“However, it will now be ongoing in the courts,” added Mr. Carrier. “And the right to repair is not strictly a partisan issue.”
