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The �鶹��ý Trade Commission today, along with the Illinois and Minnesota Attorneys General, sued agricultural equipment manufacturer Deere & Company (Deere) over its use of unfair practices that have driven up equipment repair costs for farmers while also depriving farmers of the ability to make timely repairs on critical farming equipment, including tractors.

The FTC’s complaint alleges that, for decades, Deere’s unlawful practices have limited the ability of farmers and independent repair providers to repair Deere equipment, forcing farmers to instead rely on Deere’s network of authorized dealers for necessary repairs. This unfair steering practice has boosted Deere’s multi-billion-dollar profits on agricultural equipment and parts, growing its repair parts business while burdening farmers with higher repair costs, the FTC’s complaint alleges.

“Illegal repair restrictions can be devastating for farmers, who rely on affordable and timely repairs to harvest their crops and earn their income,” said FTC Chair Lina M. Khan. “The FTC’s action today seeks to ensure that farmers across America are free to repair their own equipment or use repair shops of their choice—lowering costs, preventing ruinous delays, and promoting fair competition for independent repair shops.”

Durable, reliable, and easily repairable agricultural equipment is critical to American farmers. Yet, Deere, which maintains a dominant market share position across the large agricultural equipment market, has made it difficult for farmers to repair their own equipment or turn to local, independent repair providers.

The only fully functional software repair tool capable of performing all repairs on Deere equipment is produced by Deere. Deere makes this tool available only to Deere’s authorized dealers, forcing farmers to solely rely on more expensive authorized dealers for critical repairs. By creating these restrictions, Deere has unlawfully acquired and maintained monopoly power in the market for certain repair services for Deere agricultural equipment, according to the FTC’s complaint.

Deere’s Monopoly Power 

Historically, farmers have sought to repair their own equipment or relied on local, independent repair providers, which have offered various advantages over authorized Deere dealers, including lower costs, better reliability, and faster repair times.

Yet, with the increasing computerization of Deere’s equipment over the past few decades, farmers must now rely on Deere’s interactive software tool called Service ADVISOR, which Deere makes available only to its authorized dealers, the FTC’s complaint states.

An inferior repair tool exists, called Customer Service ADVISOR, but it is incapable of doing all repairs on Deere agriculture equipment. Deere also fails to make available to generic repair tool developers the information necessary to develop a fully functional repair tool, as equipment manufacturers in the automotive and trucking industries do.

Through its limited distribution of its repair tools, Deere has been able to control and limit who can repair its agricultural equipment, allowing Deere to maintain a 100% market share and charge higher prices, via its network of authorized dealers, for all repairs that require the fully functional tool.

Deere’s repair restrictions allow it to reap additional profits through parts sales, as its authorized network of dealers almost always use expensive Deere-branded parts in their repairs in lieu of generic parts.

Despite increasing public pressure to give farmers the right to repair their own equipment, including state legislative action, Deere continues to unlawfully withhold a fully functional repair tool from equipment owners. Deere’s restrictions deprive farmers of the use of their own repair labor, deny them access to their preferred repair service providers, prevent them from more reliably planting, spraying, or harvesting crops on a schedule that would allow them to maximize yield, and force them to spend more on repair and parts, the FTC’s complaint states.

The FTC’s lawsuit seeks to stop Deere’s anticompetitive conduct by ordering, among other remedies, that Deere make available to owners of Deere large tractors and combines, as well as independent repair providers, access to its fully functional Service ADVISOR repair tool and any other repair resources available to authorized dealers.

The Commission vote to authorize staff to file for a permanent injunction and other equitable relief in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois was 3-2, with Commissioners Melissa Holyoak and Andrew Ferguson dissenting. Chair Lina M. Khan issued a statement. Commissioner Ferguson issued a dissenting statement joined by Commissioner Melissa Holyoak. 

NOTE: The Commission issues a complaint when it has “reason to believe” that the law has been or is being violated, and it appears to the Commission that a proceeding is in the public interest.