FTC Settlement Forces John Deere to Let Farmers Fix Their Own Equipment

Farmers will now have more ways to fix their own John Deere equipment, thanks to a new settlement between the company and federal regulators.

The Federal Trade Commission and five states had accused John Deere of holding a monopoly on repair services for its own equipment, saying the company forced farmers to bring their Deere tractors and machinery to authorized dealers for repairs, even for basic fixes.

Under the settlement, John Deere now has to give farmers and independent repair shops the tools they need to do that work themselves, including software that can read and reset equipment codes. The company has to keep providing those resources for the next ten years, and the FTC will be watching to make sure it follows through.

For farmers, the change means they're no longer stuck waiting on a dealer, or paying dealer prices, just to get their own equipment running again.