The Federal Trade Commission and five states have reached a settlement with John Deere that will give farmers and independent repair shops access to the same diagnostic and repair software that Deere currently reserves for its authorized dealers FTC.

The settlement lasts for 10 years initially, with reporting requirements that allow the agreement to extend if Deere fails to comply Engadget. The FTC and states filed the lawsuit in January 2025, claiming Deere's repair restrictions forced farmers and independent shops to pay higher prices than authorized dealers FTC.

FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson said the agreement will allow farmers to benefit from competition in equipment repair. Deere has stated the settlement includes no finding of wrongdoing, a position the company has maintained since the lawsuit began John Deere. Nathan Proctor, a senior campaigner at US PIRG, called the outcome "a win for farmers and all of us who want a more fixable world" Engadget.

What changes now

Modern farm equipment relies heavily on software. Deere's diagnostic tools read error codes, adjust sensors, and confirm that replacement parts work correctly on tractors and combines equipped with GPS systems and remote monitoring. For years, only Deere dealers had full access to this software. Independent repair shops and farmers could handle straightforward mechanical work, but anything involving software controls required a dealer technician to visit or a trip to the dealership. The settlement requires Deere to give farmers and independent repair shops the same software access its dealers have.

This pattern — locking software so only manufacturers or their approved partners can fix devices — has become common over the past decade, affecting everything from smartphones to medical equipment to home appliances. Farm equipment has been a particularly visible battleground because the stakes are high. A combine stuck waiting for a dealer technician during harvest can cost a farmer thousands of dollars per day in lost yield. The financial pressure is more immediate and measurable than it is for, say, a cracked phone screen.

How the agreement works

The 10-year timeline with extension provisions if Deere breaches is worth noting. Rather than setting an expiration date regardless of whether Deere complies, the FTC built in pressure for the company to keep following the rules. Ongoing monitoring and reporting requirements will check whether Deere is actually delivering on its commitments, though the specific details of that oversight have not yet been made public.

One clarification on Deere's "no wrongdoing" statement: this language is standard in FTC settlements and does not weaken the actual repair-access requirements. Companies often settle regulatory cases while disagreeing about whether they broke the law; what matters is what they must do going forward, not how they argue about the past.

Context and what comes next

This settlement reflects growing momentum for right-to-repair rules across the United States. Several states—Colorado, New York, Minnesota, and others—have passed laws addressing repair access for both farm equipment and consumer electronics. The FTC's 2021 guidance on repair restrictions laid the foundation for actions like this one, treating software locks and parts limits as potential unfair competition rather than purely private business decisions between manufacturers and dealers.

The real test will be how quickly Deere's software tools actually make it to independent repair shops. In other industries, settlements that look good on paper have sometimes taken years to translate into working repair tools in the field. This agreement includes reporting requirements that give the FTC and the five states a way to check whether Deere is actually delivering. With a 10-year timeline, there will be plenty of time to see whether the company holds up its end of the deal.