FTC investigating John Deere over ‘Right To Repair’

By Ryan Hanrahan

Reuters’ Jody Godoy reported at the end of this past week that “the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is probing farm equipment maker Deere over the company’s repair policies, according to a filing made public on Thursday. The investigation, authorized on Sept. 2, 2021, focuses on repair restrictions manufacturers place on hardware or software, often referred to by regulators as impeding customers’ ‘right to repair’ the goods they purchase.”

“The probe was made public through a filing by data analytics company Hargrove & Associates Inc, which sought to quash an FTC subpoena seeking market data submitted to it by members of the Association of Equipment Manufacturers,” Godoy reported. “…The FTC is probing whether Deere violated the Federal Trade Act’s section 5, according to the filing. The law prohibits unfair or deceptive practices affecting commerce, and the FTC has recently used it in a broad array of cases, including against Amazon and pharmacy benefit managers.”

Investigation adds to complaints over ‘Right To Repair’

Agri-Pulse’s Noah Wicks reported that “the investigation’s reveal comes more than two years after the National Farmers Union, along with six of its state-level affiliates and five ‘right to repair’ advocacy organizations, filed a complaint to the agency alleging John Deere is violating antitrust laws by restricting access to software embedded in its machines.”

“Deere’s repair policies have in recent years been criticized by some farm groups and repair advocates, who insist the company holds too firm a grip over the tools they believe are needed to repair modern farm equipment,” Wicks reported. “The farm equipment manufacturer has long insisted it already supports a customer’s right to ‘safely maintain, diagnose, and repair their equipment,’ just not the software inside of the high-tech machines. Cory Reed, the president of Deere’s worldwide agriculture and turf division for production and precision ag, told the FTC in 2021 that opening up access to embedded software code to third parties could allow them to illegally tamper with safety and emissions controls. It would also infringe on the company’s intellectual property interests, he added.”

Progressive Farmer’s Todd Neeley reported that, one of the groups in the original complaint, the U.S. Public Interest Research Group, or PIRG, “said in a news release on Thursday that the ag groups’ original petition was filed based on ‘research by U.S. PIRG into how Deere prevents farmers from repairing their own equipment, pushing them to use dealership repair services instead.’”

“‘We are grateful that the FTC has taken our complaint seriously and is investigating Deere’s conduct,’ PIRG Right to Repair Campaign Director Nathan Proctor said in a statement,” according to Neeley’s reporting. “‘We should be able to fix our own stuff. When farmers can’t access the proprietary software tools which are required to diagnose or complete repairs, that means they have to wait for an authorized technician before they can finish their work. The weather doesn’t wait on a dealership’s schedule — a delay could mean the loss of your harvest.’”

Bloomberg’s Leah Nylen reported that “in July 2021, President Joe Biden signed an executive order supporting the right to repair and efforts to make it easier and cheaper for people to repair their own items. In response, companies including Microsoft Corp. and Apple Inc. have loosened their repair policies. In January 2023, Deere also entered into an agreement with American Farm Bureau Federation that promised it would provide farmers and independent repair shops with the diagnostic tools and information to make their own repairs to equipment.”

“Deere is ‘cooperating with the FTC,’ the company said in a statement. ‘At this time, we cannot comment any further while an investigation is ongoing,’” Nylen reported. “The FTC didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Deere shares extended an earlier decline to fall as much as 3.1% on Thursday, their biggest drop since August.”

FTC investigating John Deere over ‘Right To Repair’ was originally published by Farmdoc.