Senator Calls Out Deere For Clean Air Act Violations, Blocking Farmer Repairs

In a letter to John Deere's CEO John May, Senator Elizabeth Warren calls out the company's efforts to thwart owner repairs, in violation of the Clean Air Act.

A letter from the U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren is calling out agricultural equipment giant John Deere for possible violations of the federal Clean Air Act and a years-long pattern of thwarting owners’ ability to repair their farm equipment.

Deere “appears to be evading its responsibilities under the Clean Air Act to grant customers the right to repair their own agricultural equipment.” That is costing farmers an estimated $4.2 billion annually “causing them to miss key crop windows on which their businesses and livelihoods rely,” Warren writes, according to a copy of the letter shared with Fight To Repair Newsletter. 

The letter from Warren, a Senator from Massachusetts and strong repair advocate, is just the latest volley lobbed at Illinois-based Deere, an iconic American brand and the largest supplier of agricultural equipment to farms in the U.S. Deere controls an estimated 53 percent of the U.S. market for large tractors and 60 percent of the U.S. market for farm combines. 

Criticism of Deere mounts

In recent weeks, Deere faced criticism, including from Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, after laying off close to 2,000 U.S. based employees at facilities in Iowa and Illinois, moving many of those jobs to facilities in Mexico. The company has also been repeatedly called out for complicating repair and service of its farm equipment - often relying on software locks and digital rights management to force farmers to use Deere dealers and authorized service providers for even the simplest repairs. 

Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) sent a letter criticizing John Deere and suggesting the company may have violated the Clean Air Act.

The letter from Warren notes the coincidence of such practices with soaring Deere profits. The company has seen its profits increase by 270% in the last four years, despite the disruptions caused by the COVID pandemic, labor strikes and other factors. Deere “keeps its profits streaming in by overcharging for repair services,” Warren writes. 

Deere and the Clean Air Act: hiding behind a law you’re breaking

For the past decade, Deere has been a vocal opponent of proposed right to repair laws at the state and federal level, helping to defeat proposed legislation in a number of states. Central to its opposition has been an argument that providing access to repair tools and information would facilitate farmers’ in altering emissions systems on Deere equipment in violation of the Clean Air Act. 

In recent months, however, this argument has fallen flat.

Repair advocates, led by Willie Cade, a member of The Repair Coalition, pointed to language in the Clean Air Act that explicitly states that owners have the right to repair emissions systems, and mandate that manufacturers inform their customers of their right, while prohibiting the erection of barriers to servicing such systems.