The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), along with Illinois and Minnesota, are suing Deere & Company. They allege that the Moline-based farming equipment manufacturer has violated state antitrust laws and the Sherman and FTC Act by withholding repair programs from its customers.
The 37-page suit filed Wednesday, Jan. 15th, in the Northern District of Illinois Western Division Court alleges the company forces farmers to pay higher costs and travel further to authorized Deere dealers. These repairs involve the equipment's electronic control units or ECUs using the company’s Service ADVISOR program, which is only available to Deere-certified dealers.
In a public statement, FTC Chair Lina Khan wrote that unfair repair restrictions can mean delays during planting and harvesting windows. "For some, these delays can mean that months of hard work and much-needed income vanish, devastating their business. In rural communities, the restrictions can sometimes mean that farmers need to drive hours just to get their equipment fixed. For those who have long fixed their own equipment, these artificial restrictions can seem especially inefficient, with tractors needlessly sitting idle as farmers and independent mechanics are held back from using their skill and talent."
The company's Service ADVISOR acts as a "helpdesk" to solve diagnostic trouble codes or DTCs within the equipment control unit. The company controls a case and contact management system that reads the DTC and sends "payload files" to fix the issue, known as "reprogramming." On page 14 of the suit, The FTC claims the "reprogramming function does not require or enable a dealer technician to modify the software payload received from Deere or access to the source code contained therein."
Currently, Deere-certified dealers pay an unknown amount, redacted in the filing on page 13, to obtain and utilize the Service ADVISOR program.
Theo Brown Society Director and right-to-repair advocate Willie Cade, whose grandfather Theo served on the Deere & Company board and worked as an engineer for the company, says Deere has been misleading its customers for years to increase profits.
"I think what the FTC is really getting at is, for generations, farmers have been loyal to John Deere. And, you know, assuming that that loyalty would be reciprocated, and clearly from the investigation of the FTC and the suit that's filed by the FTC, that loyalty is not a two-way street," Cade said in a phone interview with WVIK. "I mean, some of the statements, even though they were redacted in the public version of the filing, clearly show executives at John Deere flat out admitting to this schema. It's truly remarkable in that sense that they would believe that they could get away with it. And frankly, they have gotten away with it for more than a decade."
FTC Commissioner and future Chairman Andrew Ferguson wrote in a public dissent statement that Deere & Company and the FTC were working towards a resolution. "The parties are in active negotiations over a fix that, if brought to fruition, could provide meaningful relief to America’s farmers. I favor settling this litigation but only if that settlement provides real, tangible benefits to America’s farmers. If the Commission and Deere cannot reach such a settlement, then the courts will resolve the right to repair question here. Securing real relief for farmers in short order should be the Commission’s focus, rather than launching potentially years-long litigation in order to secure another triumphant press release on the Democrats’ way out the door."
Ferguson and fellow Commissioner Melissa Holyoak are the only Republicans on the commission. Democrats fill the remaining three seats, the maximum a party can hold on the commission.
Ferguson continued his statement that the decision to file suit this week quote "appears to be the result of brazen partisanship", claiming the filing was to beat Trump into office. Deere & Company seem to agree in their 3-page response sent Wednesday night.
Deere & Company's Vice President of Aftermarket and Customer Support, Denver Caldwell, in the written statement sent via email, says "It is extremely disappointing that three Commissioners of the FTC chose to file a meritless lawsuit on the eve of the transition to a new Administration. Our recent discussions with the Commission have revealed that the agency still lacked basic information about the industry and John Deere’s business practices and confirmed that the agency was instead relying on inaccurate information and assumptions.”
Cade says the commissioner's statement is a non-dissent dissent. "In one sense, doesn't disagree with any of the substance of the lawsuit. He just thinks there should have been more time. And having been involved in this for the last seven, eight years, I would disagree with him. I think time is up."
Cade believes the Trump administration will not end the litigation, but even without the FTC, the states of Illinois and Minnesota will continue. "I think they'd have to work together. And I know both of those Attorney Generals are ardent supporters of the issue of right to repair."
Deere & Company's Public Relations Director Jen Hartmann, in the same 3-page statement, says the company is offering an expanded pilot program in the second half of 2025 that would allow customers and independent repair providers to "reprogram" the machine's electronic control unit.
Cade says the lawsuit filed only pertains to tractors and combines, "They also apply these same kinds of illegal techniques of selling and controlling and monopolizing the market with their other equipment. So I anticipate additional lawsuits to be coming down the pike. I think this is going to be a real big problem for John Deere. And by the way, many of the other competitors in the industry that do the same things. So this is not just about John Deere. It's about the time and time again where corporations try to monopolize their products that they sell. So I think it's going to have long-term ramifications. And I think this is only the beginning of this effort."
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Below is the public, redacted court filing and John Deere's statement. FTC Chair Khan's statement and Commissioner Ferguson's public statements are also attached.
