Deere settles FTC repair restrictions case with 10-year access commitments

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Deere FTC repair settlement

Highlights

Deere will provide farmers and independent repair providers 10 years of access to diagnostic tools and repair resources previously limited to authorized dealers.
Deere will pay $1 million in legal fees to Illinois, Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, with the settlement still needing approval from U.S. District Judge Iain Johnston.
The FTC settlement, effective January 15, 2025, advances right-to-repair in agriculture, aiming to increase competition and reduce costs for farmers.

Settlement terms and repair access changes

As reported by Reuters, the settlement requires Deere to give farmers and independent repair providers access for 10 years to the same diagnostic tools and other repair resources available to authorized dealers. The company must also provide access to new repair resources once more than 50% of its authorized dealers have them.

Deere will instruct its authorized dealers to make those resources available to farmers and independent providers who request them. The Moline, Illinois-based company will also pay $1 million to cover the legal fees and costs of Illinois, Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.

In settling the case with the FTC and the five states, Deere does not admit or deny wrongdoing. The agreement still requires approval from U.S. District Judge Iain Johnston in Rockford, Illinois, and follows Deere's April agreement to pay $99 million to settle related private class-action litigation.

In a statement, Deere says the settlement reinforces its years-long commitment to expand customer access, transparency and repair flexibility.

Antitrust pressure on agricultural equipment repair

The lawsuit begins on January 15, 2025, as part of a broader push by former U.S. President Joe Biden's administration to address alleged anti-competitive conduct in agriculture. The FTC says Deere illegally amasses monopoly power over repairs for its farm equipment, resulting in service delays, higher prices and increased profits.

The commission says the settlement reflects its effort to reduce costs for American farmers and for consumers who buy farm products. Daniel Guarnera, director of the FTC's competition bureau, says the agreement lets farmers repair their own tractors and other equipment without having to pay an authorized John Deere dealer to do the work.

FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson says competition in agriculture remains important to the American way of life and links the case to the historical role of farmers in shaping early U.S. antitrust laws. The settlement also adds momentum to the wider right-to-repair debate, which has drawn scrutiny across the farm equipment sector over access to parts, software and diagnostic systems.

In our earlier article on JetBlue’s lawsuit over retained September 11th Security Fees on canceled award tickets, we noted that a judge’s decision to let the case proceed increased the airline’s potential legal and regulatory exposure. We also highlighted how that overhang weighed on investor sentiment, with the stock showing bearish technical signals and a higher probability of further short-term downside.

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