John Deere has agreed to allow its U.S. customers to perform their equipment maintenance.
Before this change, farmers were only permitted to use authorized parts and service facilities, as opposed to more affordable independent repair choices.
Deere & Company is one of the world’s major manufacturers of agricultural equipment.
Consumer organizations have been urging businesses to let their customers repair everything from smartphones to tractors for years.
On Sunday, the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) and Deere & Co. signed an agreement (MOU).
It protects John Deere’s intellectual property rights and ensures the safety of equipment, AFBF President Zippy Duvall stated.
Under the terms of the agreement, equipment owners and independent technicians will not be permitted to “disclose trade secrets”. Or “override safety features or emissions controls or modify the power levels of Agricultural Equipment.”
“Self-service repair” program in 2022
Dave Gilmore, senior vice president of Deere & Co., is looking forward to working with the AFBF. And “our customers in the next months and years to ensure that farmers continue to have the tools and resources to diagnose, maintain, and repair their equipment.”
Farmers are a part of a grassroots right-to-repair campaign that has been pressuring device makers to allow customers. And independent repair businesses to fix their products.
Apple started a “self-service repair” program in 2022, allowing iPhone owners to replace their batteries, displays, and cameras.
For certain devices, the United Kingdom and the European Union have policies requiring manufacturers to make spare parts available to customers and independent businesses.
According to the European Parliamentary Research Service, “consumers have long complained that items not only tend to break down faster than they used to. But that fixing them is often too expensive, difficult to organize due to a lack of spare parts, and occasionally impossible.”
Some U.S. states, including New York and Massachusetts, have enacted similar legislation. In 2021, President Biden issued an executive order directing the Federal Trade Commission to develop a nationwide policy. Permitting consumers to repair their products, particularly in the technology and agriculture industries.
