John Deere Agrees To 10-Year Right-To-Repair Deal In FTC Antitrust Lawsuit
3 83John Deere has agreed to a 10-year FTC-supervised right-to-repair settlement requiring it to provide farmers and independent repair shops with the same repair resources available to authorized dealers. The deal resolves antitrust claims from the FTC and five states alleging Deere monopolized equipment repair services, contributing to higher costs and delays for farmers. Wired reports: The full statement (PDF) lays out obligations for John Deere's repair services, requiring the company to give farmers and third-party repair shops access to the same equipment and repair resources it provides to official John Deere dealers. This includes software capabilities, such as reading and resetting codes and pairing with other software, which customers have long had limited access to, creating delays when diagnosing equipment problems. Delayed fixes can mean delayed harvests, which many farmers saw as a fundamental threat to their livelihoods.
Under the agreement, John Deere will be required to provide this level of access, equipment, and services for the next 10 years, monitored by the FTC. [...] John Deere has maintained that it already has robust repair resources for its customers, including service manuals and diagnostic equipment. In John Deere's press release, the company says the settlement is in line with what it has been doing all along, saying that "the agreement reinforces Deere's continued innovation toward more flexible repair options, emphasizing increased access and transparency for customers. It formalizes Deere's ongoing commitment to expanding access to diagnostic and repair tools."
3 comments
Re:We have been doing this all along... (Score: 5, Insightful)
by dgatwood ( 11270 ) on Wednesday July 08, 2026 @06:39PM (#66229002)
...and we will do this for another 10 years. So, are they saying that after 10 more years, they're not going to do it anymore?
I think the 10 years only applies to FTC supervision, not the expectation of the right to repair.
It's an out-of-court settlement. After ten years, if they lock down repairs again, it's not a breach of the agreement, so the government will have to care enough to file a lawsuit.
I feel like the real way to solve this problem is to wait for the all-electric Chinese-made tractors to get good enough, then let John Deere shrivel on the vine. They're only able to pull this stuff because there isn't much competition.
Re:give a thank you (Score: 5, Informative)
by Geoffrey.landis ( 926948 ) on Wednesday July 08, 2026 @10:23PM (#66229282)
to joe biden and lina khan. trump admin must not have gotten a proper bribe to kill this.
Actually Trump is personally behind the right to repair. From Google:
In this case, OP was correct. The FTC action against John Deere was filed during the Biden administration when Lina Khan was FTC chair.
https://apnews.com/article/dee... [apnews.com]
John Deere has always been shady (Score: 5, Interesting)
by RitchCraft ( 6454710 ) on Wednesday July 08, 2026 @06:22PM (#66228978)
My grandfather was a farmer right up until he died in 2008 at the age of 90. He swore by Massey Ferguson implements and tractors. Even back in the day he always said John Deere was a company to avoid. Fucking over the people that feed us shows just how fucked up the Deere C-Suite is. Fuck you John Deere ... Fuck You.