Deere & Company Agrees to $99 Million Settlement Over Right-to-Repair Dispute

Agricultural equipment giant Deere & Company has agreed to a $99 million class-action settlement following allegations that the company restricted farmers' access to affordable repair services. The proposed settlement, filed Monday in federal court in Chicago, Illinois, marks a significant development in the ongoing right-to-repair debate sweeping across the United States.

The settlement fund will compensate eligible farmers and farming operations that paid Deere-authorized dealers for repairs on large agricultural equipment between January 2018 and the present. Qualifying machinery includes tractors, combines, and sugarcane harvesters — essential tools that many agricultural businesses depend on daily.

Beyond the financial compensation, Deere has committed to providing farmers with access to the digital diagnostic and repair tools needed to service their own equipment for a period of 10 years. This concession is widely seen as a win for independent repair advocates who have long argued that manufacturers like Deere create monopolistic repair ecosystems that inflate costs for farmers.

Despite agreeing to the settlement, Deere denied any wrongdoing, stating the resolution "brings this case to an end with no finding of wrongdoing." The proposed accord still requires judicial approval before taking effect.

The class-action resolution does not fully close the book on Deere's legal challenges. The company separately faces a Federal Trade Commission lawsuit, with a U.S. judge ruling in 2025 that the case must proceed. The FTC alleges that Deere deliberately blocks farmers from obtaining the tools and information necessary to perform timely, cost-effective repairs — forcing them into an expensive authorized dealer network. Deere continues to deny those allegations.

The outcome of this settlement could influence how other manufacturers approach repair access policies, potentially reshaping industry standards at a time when right-to-repair legislation is gaining momentum nationwide.