John Deere dealerships lobby against right to repair: Difference between revisions

The issue at hand for farmers is the difficulty to repair their own farming equipment. They can't do much to diagnose the problem with their tractor, as only a John Deere dealer has access to the diagnostic software.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |author=Uri Berliner |date=26 May 2021 |title=Standoff Between Farmers And Tractor Makers Intensifies Over Repair Issues |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/05/26/1000400896/standoff-between-farmers-and-tractor-makers-intensifies-over-repair-issues |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20251109181327/https://www.npr.org/2021/05/26/1000400896/standoff-between-farmers-and-tractor-makers-intensifies-over-repair-issues |archive-date=9 Nov 2025 |publisher=NPR News |language=en |format=radio transcript}}</ref> Tractors and combines have gotten more computerized, which makes it difficult, or nearly impossible, to diagnose without access to this software.<ref>{{Cite web |author=Alina Selyukh |date=15 January 2025 |title=John Deere faces U.S. lawsuit over farmers' ability to repair tractors |url=https://www.mainepublic.org/npr-news/2025-01-15/john-deere-faces-u-s-lawsuit-over-farmers-ability-to-repair-tractors |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20250708172911/https://www.mainepublic.org/npr-news/2025-01-15/john-deere-faces-u-s-lawsuit-over-farmers-ability-to-repair-tractors |archive-date=8 Jul 2025 |publisher=Maine Public and NPR |language=en |format=article}}</ref> This effectively excludes mechanics and farmers from doing an independent repair.<ref name=":0" /> 

The personal story of farmer Schweitzer in 2021 highlights two more themes regarding repairability, besides not being able to do the repair themselves. The repair through the dealer takes a long time, a month for the repair in his case, and had high costs in his case: nearly $5,000 to replace a fuel sensor. He says a local independent mechanic would have charged only a small fraction of that.<ref name=":0" /> Furthermore, it is not an option to wait this long, because "Unfair repair restrictions can mean farmers face unnecessary delays during tight planting and harvest windows. For some, these delays can mean that months of hard work and much-needed income vanish, devastating their business" according to the the [[Federal Trade Commission|FTC]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/deere-lina-khan-statement-final.pdf|date=15 Jan 2025|title=Statement of Chair Lina M. Khan In the Matter of Deere & Company Commission File No. 2110191|publisher=Federal Trade Commission (FTC)|language=en|author=Lina M. Khan |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20260111225534/https://www.ftc.gov/system/files/ftc_gov/pdf/deere-lina-khan-statement-final.pdf |archive-date=11 Jan 2026}}</ref>