The Federal Trade Commission and the states of Illinois and Minnesota have sued John Deere, accusing the company of illegally restricting farmers and independent technicians from fixing their own machinery, Breitbart reported.

The lawsuit alleges that the company "has illegally restricted the ability of farmers and independent technicians to repair Deere equipment, including tractors and combines" and claims Deere's repair limitations lead to elevated costs for farmers and significant delays during vital planting and harvesting seasons.

Deere has long been criticized for introducing software locks that block farmers from performing most fixes. The company has also received complaints about making replacement parts difficult to acquire.

This legal challenge arrives despite Deere's previous promise to address farmers' concerns. The company signed a “Memorandum of Understanding” with a farming organization, pledging to simplify certain repairs, but farmers say the agreement's implementation has been inconsistent.

The lawsuit alleges that the memorandum served to deter "right to repair" legislation and stricter oversight.

Deere's released version of its repair software, Service Advisor, costs $3,160 annually but offers limited functionality compared to the version used by official Deere dealers. Many farmers report that they cannot perform many repairs independently, leaving them dependent on authorized John Deere or John Deere dealer technicians and causing delays that can cost farmers an entire season's work, as equipment downtime often results in lost harvests and missed planting windows.

In what the FTC describes as its most forceful move yet to protect consumer repair rights, the agency is taking direct aim at what it views as a long-standing repair monopoly. This action follows years of FTC reports criticizing manufacturer dominance in the repair industry. Until now, however, the commission had not brought a formal lawsuit against a company over such practices.

Nathan Proctor, consumer rights group PIRG's senior right to repair campaign director, said, "We shouldn't tolerate companies blocking repair. When you buy something, you should be able to do whatever you want with it. The FTC's enforcement action will help farmers and everyone else who believes people should be able to fix their stuff."

Deere is likely to face more federal problems under Donald Trump's administration. The president-elect vowed to hit Deere with severe tariffs on its equipment if it follows through on its plan to move manufacturing to Mexico.

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