Chicago – Attorney General Kwame Raoul, in partnership with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, filed a lawsuit today against Deere and Company (Deere), arguing the agricultural equipment manufacturer’s use of unfair practices has driven up equipment repair costs for farmers while also depriving farmers of the ability to make timely repairs on critical farming equipment, including tractors.
“With the price of farming equipment continuing to rise, farmers should have increased flexibility to repair and maintain their equipment and not be forced to utilize expensive authorized dealers,” Raoul said. “I will continue to advocate for increased marketplace competition and stand for the rights of Illinois consumers.”
In their lawsuit, Raoul and the coalition allege 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 multibillion-dollar profits on agricultural equipment and parts, allowing the company to expand its repair parts business while burdening farmers with higher repair costs.
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.
In their lawsuit, Raoul and the coalition seek to stop Deere’s anticompetitive conduct by ordering, among other remedies, that Deere make available to owners of Deere’s 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.
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.
Despite increasing public pressure – including state legislative action – to give farmers the right to repair their own equipment, 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.
In March 2023, Raoul led a bipartisan coalition of 27 attorneys general in calling upon Congress to protect farmers and other consumers by passing expansive Right-to-Repair legislation targeted at automobiles, agriculture equipment and digital electronic equipment.
Bureau Chief Elizabeth Maxeiner and Assistant Attorney General Brian Yost are handling the case for Raoul’s Antitrust Bureau.
