The walls are closing in on John Deere and Company regarding its unwillingness to completely lift repair restrictions that prevent farmers from deciding who fixes their tractors when they break down.

Deere’s scam has been going on for a long, long, long time. In a nutshell: Deere embeds authorization codes in its tractor software that prevent farmers from repairing their rigs, especially when it comes to engine emissions. Without the codes, repair is impossible. And only authorized John Deere repair dealers have access to all the verification codes.

Feeling the heat from farmers, Congress, lawsuits, and the White House, John Deere tried to tap down growing outrage by cutting a deal with the American Farm Bureau Federation.

In 2023, the AFBF signed memorandums of understanding with Deere and its other big iron brethren – Case New Holland, CLAAS of America, Kubota, and AGCO.

In the MOU’s, tractor manufacturers promised farmers and independent repair facilities timely electronic access to manuals, software and speciality tools needed for maintenance, upgrade and repair of tractors — including access to codes and data from individual machines.

The AFBF then promised not to lobby the feds or state legislatures for agricultural right-to-repair legislation.

Deere hoped the MOUs would regain farmer trust and lessen exposure to lawsuits, federal investigation and Congressional intervention. It hasn’t done any of that.

Late last month, a court filing by data analytics company Hargrove and Associates Inc. revealed the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is investigating John Deere’s repair restrictions on hardware and software. Hargrove and Associates’ filing was an attempt to quash an FTC subpoena seeking market data information from the Association of Equipment Manufacturers.

Also in October, discovery concluded in a consolidated class action complaint against  Deere in the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Illinois Western Division. In Deere and Company Repair Services Antitrust Litigation plaintiffs claim:

“Through DTAC [Dealer Technical Assistance Center], Dealerships also have access to Product Improvement Programs (‘PIPs’) which are instructions on how to troubleshoot and repair more complex problems that impact large numbers of Deere Tractors. The existence of some PIPs are publicly disclosed, but there are also ‘secret’ PIPs that are known only to Deere and the Dealerships. Dealerships may choose not to inform the farmer of PIPs for their Tractors until after a serious problem has manifested. Even when a PIP is ‘public,’ the troubleshooting steps and repair information are not independently accessible. Deere does not provide, and has never provided, access to Dealer Service Advisor or DTAC to anyone but its authorized Dealerships.”