By Jonathan Stempel
July 8 (Reuters) - Deere agreed on Wednesday to settle a lawsuit by the Federal Trade Commission and five U.S. states accusing the farm equipment maker of illegally requiring farmers to use its network of authorized dealers for repairs, rather than use independent service providers or do the work themselves.
• The settlement requires Deere to give farmers and independent providers access to the same equipment diagnostic and other repair resources available to authorized dealers
for 10 years, and access to new repair resources once more than 50% of authorized dealers have access.
• Deere will also instruct authorized dealers to provide those resources to farmers and independent providers who want them. It will pay $1 million to cover the states' legal fees and costs.
• The Moline, Illinois-based company did not admit or deny wrongdoing in settling with the FTC, Illinois, Arizona, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin.
• Its settlement requires approval by U.S. District Judge Iain Johnston in Rockford, Illinois. Deere agreed in April to pay $99 million to settle related private class-action litigation.
• In a statement, Deere said the settlement reinforces its years-long commitment to expand customer access, transparency and repair flexibility.
• The lawsuit began on January 15, 2025, one of several measures by former U.S. President Joe Biden's administration to address alleged anti-competitive activity in agriculture.
• According to the FTC, Deere illegally amassed monopoly power over repairs for its farm equipment, leading to service delays and higher prices as well as greater profits.
• The FTC said Deere's settlement reflects the commission's commitment to reducing costs for American farmers and consumers who buy their products.
• “Today’s settlement enables farmers to do what they’ve done for generations—fix their own tractors and other farm equipment—without having to pay an authorized John Deere dealer to do it,” said Daniel Guarnera, director of the FTC competition bureau.
• In a separate statement, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said competition in agriculture is important to the American way of life, and farmers played a pivotal role in shaping early U.S. antitrust laws. "So it is only right that this settlement protects those that (former President Thomas) Jefferson designated as the nation’s most valuable and virtuous citizens," he said.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New YorkEditing by Nick Zieminski)
