John Deere Agrees to $99 Million Right-to-Repair Settlement With Farmers

John Deere has agreed to pay $99 million to settle a class action lawsuit that accused the company of forcing farmers to use expensive authorized dealerships for equipment repairs.

The lawsuit, originally filed in 2022, alleged that Deere locked farmers out of repairing their own tractors, combines, and other large agricultural equipment by restricting access to the software and diagnostic tools needed to fix modern machines. Farmers said this gave Deere a monopoly over the repair market, driving up costs and creating long delays during critical seasons like planting and harvest.

As part of the settlement, Deere also agreed to make its digital repair tools available to farmers for 10 years — covering tractors, combines, and sugarcane harvesters. The idea is that farmers and independent mechanics would no longer need to rely solely on Deere dealerships to diagnose and fix their equipment.

The settlement covers farms and farmers who paid Deere's authorized dealers for repairs to large agricultural equipment from January 2018 onward. It was filed in federal court in Chicago, Illinois, and still requires a judge's approval before any payouts are made. No claim filing deadline has been set yet.

Deere has denied any wrongdoing. The company said the settlement "addresses the issues raised in the 2022 complaint and brings this case to an end."

It's worth noting that this settlement only resolves the class action brought by farmers. Deere is still facing a separate right-to-repair lawsuit from the U.S. Federal Trade Commission, which accuses the company of blocking farmers from getting the tools and information they need to repair their own equipment. A federal judge ruled in 2025 that Deere must face that lawsuit, and it's still ongoing.

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