"Right to Repair" Efforts Take Off in Wisconsin
Wednesday, March 5th, 2025 -- 10:01 AM
(Hope Kirwan, Wisconsin Public Radio) An effort to give farmers the “right to repair” their own tractors and other equipment has taken off in Wisconsin in recent weeks.
According to Hope Kirwan with Wisconsin Public Radio, State Attorney General Josh Kaul recently joined a lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission against the manufacturer of John Deere equipment.
The lawsuit alleges that Deere & Company only makes a diagnostic repair tool available to their authorized dealers, preventing farmers from repairing their own equipment or using independent service providers.
The FTC and four other states argue the practice has allowed Deere to maintain monopoly power over the repair market. A group of Democratic state lawmakers has also put forward a bill to require farm equipment manufacturers to make repair documents, parts and tools available at fair costs and terms.
“We need to fix this anti-competitive, monopolistic practice that is currently taking place, and let farmers repair the equipment that they have purchased and they own,” said state Sen. Brad Pfaff, D-Onalaska, who co-authored the bill.
The legislation makes an allowance for manufacturers to protect trade secrets. Pfaff said farm equipment has become more sophisticated and companies should be able to protect their intellectual property. But he said the market needs more competition to ensure a fair price for repairs.
“When you have a situation where the farm manufacturer can exclusively determine how and the price that a piece of equipment is going to be repaired, that leads to a situation in which the competitive marketplace really doesn’t exist,” he said.
Pfaff said the bill goes beyond the FTC lawsuit by requiring all farm equipment manufacturers, not just John Deere, to make repair tools available. He said he’s hopeful the issue will gain bipartisan support in the state Legislature this session.
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