FTC Settlement With John Deere Is a Major Victory for the Right to Repair

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) on Wednesday announced a settlement with tractor manufacturer John Deere over a 2025 lawsuit that accused the company of illegally acquiring and maintaining monopoly power in the market for repair services for its farm equipment.

Under the agreement, John Deere must for the next 10 years give farmers and third-party repair shops the same access to equipment and repair resources it provides to its official dealers. This includes software capabilities such as reading and resetting codes and pairing with other software — features that have long been restricted, causing delays in diagnosing problems. Delayed repairs can mean delayed harvests, which many farmers see as a fundamental threat to their livelihoods.

The FTC will monitor compliance. “After years of fighting for the right to repair, this order gives farmers real hope,” Willie Cade, a board member of repair advocacy group Repair.org, wrote in an email to WIRED. “But promises on paper must become tools in farmers’ hands, and we will be watching implementation every step of the way.”

Farmers have been battling John Deere’s repair practices for over a decade, but the FTC began its investigation in 2021 under then-chair Lina Khan in the Biden administration. In April, John Deere agreed to pay $99 million in a separate class-action lawsuit filed in 2022. Repair and consumer advocates say this FTC settlement does far more to help farmers than that payout.

John Deere maintains it already offers robust repair resources, including service manuals and diagnostic equipment. In its press release, the company said the settlement aligns with what it has been doing all along, “reinforcing Deere’s continued innovation toward more flexible repair options, emphasizing increased access and transparency for customers.”

Consumer advocacy group US PIRG, which filed a formal complaint with the FTC in 2022 over John Deere’s repair policies, praised the settlement. “We should be able to fix our own stuff,” said Nathan Proctor, director of PIRG’s Right to Repair campaign. “This settlement from the FTC gives farmers more and better options to repair their equipment. It is a win for farmers and all of us who want a more fixable world.”