John Deere maintains fix-it monopoly through industry agreement that denies farmers the “right to repair”

The Deere Company, best known as the maker of John Deere tractors, has had a long and lucrative relationship with the United States federal government. During World War II, Deere Company president Charles Deere Wiman (great-grandson of John Deere, himself) was tapped by FDR to run the farm machinery division of the government's War Production Board. The company produced many products for the war effort, including aircraft parts, ammunition, military tractors, and parts for the M3 tank.

A more recent way the company has found to engage in rent-seeking has been through the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Passed in 1998, the act is a copyright law the criminalizes various way of accessing copyrighted works like software when attempting to repair broken products. In the case of John Deere, this would include the ability to repair farm equipment electronics running proprietary software. According to Wired, critics call this action just the latest in Deere's “exploiting copyright laws to lock farmers out of their own stuff.” Apple uses similar maneuvers.

Earlier this month, Motherboard reported that the California Farm Bureau, a lobbying group representing farmers, reached an agreement with the Far West Equipment Dealers Association, giving Deere a tractor repair monopoly. The spin has been this new agreement will make it “easier” for farmers to repair their machinery... just without accessing any copyrighted code. Access to repair manuals is being touted, though access to those manuals has existed for some time. Further spin describes the memorandum as a “right to repair” agreement. It's anything but.

The Equipment Dealers Association trade organization has consistently fought against “right to repair” legislation. Its chairman is Tom Rosztoczy, president and CEO of Stotz Equipment, a 25-store John Deere dealership. This fight was essentially between lobbyists for farmers and lobbyists for manufacturers like Deere, with the latter group taking the win.

MS = Military Subcomittee
NSTAC = National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee
CSMAC = Commerce Spectrum Management Advisory Committee