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NEW ULM -- Southern Minnesota farmers say the right to repair lawsuit settlement reached earlier this month between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and attorneys general in five states including Minnesota is step in the right direction
The lawsuit filed by Minnesota, Illinois, Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin alleged that John Deere & Company's policy of withholding diagnostic equipment and other necessary information from John Deere equipment owners prohibited them from making their own equipment repairs, was a violation of the Sherman Act (that outlaws monopolies and anti-competitive business practices), and constituted an unfair and deceptive trade practice.
"John Deere is not the only company that does this," said Courtland farmer Tim Waibel. "If you buy a tractor, you're buying everything in it. There is so much electronics in tractors now, you need a deep understanding of it. I understand John Deere's perspective on it and also the farmer's perspective."
Sleepy Eye farmer Greg Bartz said the July 8 decision was good for making software available to independent repair shops so they can work on farm equipment.
"I think most farmers will still use dealerships for complicated repair work," said Bartz. "There are so few farm equipment manufacturers, that there isn't a lot of competition, so there is no incentive to make their software available without a little push like the Right to Repair. I think it's a step in the right direction."
Former Minnesota Soybean Growers Association President and Lake Benton farmer Bob Worth said he saw both sides of the issue but liked the result.
"I think it's a great thing," he said. "I understand why companies did what they did, but they went too far. They made it very difficult to repair things like shear bolts, because you had to have a technician come out and reset the computer."
Worth said he thinks it's a lot like DEF (diesel exhaust fluid, a mandatory liquid mixture used in modern, diesel-powered like tractors and combines to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions).
"If you don't take care of it right away, the tractor or combine will shut down. A technician has to come out and figure out what happened," said Worth. "Sometimes you had to wait two days for serve. That's not very good in the middle of soybean harvest. And there weren't always enough technicians around."
Wabasso farmer Paul Soboczinski said the Minnesota Legislature needs to "step up to the plate" and include agriculture in previously passed right to repair legislation.
"Monopolistic behavior hurts farmers and consumers," he said. "We see it with a very limited number of farm machinery dealers, especially independent ones as well as a loss of local grocers due to Walmart, Dollar General and entities like them. The model was rather simple, get rid of the competition and charge more because they can."
Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU) President Gary Wertish thanked Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison and his staff for bringing the lawsuit and working to gain improvement for Minnesota family farmers.
"MFU will continue to work for expansion of the Digital Fair Repair Act I n Minnesota to cover farm equipment," he said.