FTC and USDA Open Joint Antitrust Inquiry Into Farm Equipment Repair and Parts Markets

On October 7, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Agriculture opened a joint public inquiry into competition in the farm equipment market, issuing a Request for Information that asks farmers, independent repair providers and current and former employees of manufacturers and dealers to document the barriers they face when buying machinery and when trying to keep it running. The inquiry covers agricultural equipment manufacturing and distribution, including potential anticompetitive conduct, and it represents the first time the two agencies have jointly asked the public to map competitive conditions across the sector rather than inside a single company.

Public comments are due December 7, 2026, at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, under docket FTC-2026-1585. The commission said the joint request for information is part of its ongoing work to preserve competition in the agricultural sector, and that it seeks to address the growing number of complaints received by USDA that farmers across the country face other barriers to acquiring agricultural equipment and the services required to keep equipment operating.

The inquiry arrives at the end of a sustained escalation in agricultural antitrust enforcement. In January 2025 the FTC and a group of states sued Deere & Company, alleging that the manufacturer made the only fully functional repair software for its equipment, Service ADVISOR, available solely to authorized dealers, giving Deere a 100% share of repairs that required the tool. A stipulated order entered on July 8, 2026 and joined by five states requires Deere to share proprietary repair software and specialized tools with farmers and independent repair shops for ten years under agency supervision. A separate settlement in September 2026 with Corteva Inc., joined by twelve states, resolved allegations of anticompetitive conduct in pesticides markets.

The new request is deliberately broader than either case. It takes the framework built around one manufacturer's repair software and applies it to an entire industry, and it adds parts supply, software and data access, dealer agreements, territorial restrictions and retaliation to the list of subjects the agencies want on the public record. It also references Executive Order 14364 of December 6, 2025, which directs antitrust agencies to examine whether anticompetitive behavior in food supply chains raises costs of living.

Key Facts

The Federal Trade Commission said on October 7, 2026 that the Deere settlement ensures farmers can enjoy the right to repair their own John Deere tractors and farm equipment, and it cited two prior actions as the backdrop for the inquiry: the settlement joined by twelve states enjoining Corteva Inc.'s alleged anticompetitive conduct in pesticides markets, and the settlement joined by five states of an antitrust action challenging repair restrictions imposed by Deere & Company. Comments are sought from farmers, independent repair providers, and current and former employees of manufacturers and dealers.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on X that she hears from farmers every day and that they frequently raise the restrictions they face in repairing their own equipment. 'Added costs and lost labor time are the result of these misguided restrictions for our farmers and ranchers,' she wrote. FTC Chair Andrew Ferguson said the agency especially wants to hear from 'independent repair providers, farmers, or manufacturing industry insiders willing to describe their firsthand experiences or provide documents,' and added that farmers 'shouldn't have to overcome artificial service barriers to keep their farm machinery running, or pay inflated prices for critical equipment,' and should not 'suffer retaliation for fixing their own equipment, or shopping around for better prices.'

The Washington Sun reported on October 7, 2026 that the inquiry asks farmers and repair shops to document what barriers they face in getting equipment and keeping it running, responding to a growing number of complaints USDA has received about obstacles to buying equipment and getting it serviced. The outlet also noted that the announcement came the day after the Justice Department and USDA announced a memorandum of understanding naming competition in the agriculture input sector as a top priority, and that it arrived amid outreach to rural voters ahead of the midterm elections.

TipRanks reported on October 7, 2026 that farm equipment makers named in coverage of the inquiry included Deere, Caterpillar, CNH Industrial and AGCO, and that shares in Deere, Caterpillar and CNH fell as the FTC opened the competition probe. The market reaction reflected how directly the inquiry touches the parts, software and repair economics that sit behind the sector's revenue.

AlphaPilot reported on October 7, 2026 that the inquiry expands the Deere matter along two axes, covering the entire equipment market rather than a single company and spanning manufacturing and distribution rather than repair access alone. The July 8, 2026 stipulated order requires Deere, on fair and reasonable terms, to provide farmers and independent repairers with resources equivalent to what dealers receive, including fault code reading and clearing, component reprogramming, restarts after emissions related limp mode events, manuals and troubleshooting databases. It also instructs dealers not to discriminate or retaliate against customers who repair their own equipment, and the docket remains pending in the Northern District of Illinois awaiting court approval.

Analysis

A request for information is not a complaint, and it imposes no obligation on Deere, Caterpillar, CNH Industrial, AGCO or any dealer network. Its value is evidentiary. The agencies are building a public record under docket FTC-2026-1585 that will show whether the restrictions described in the Deere case are isolated to one company's software or are standard practice across manufacturers, distributors and dealers.

What this really means is that repair access is being treated as the visible edge of a much larger structural question about who controls the aftermarket for machines that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and run for decades. Fault code reading, component reprogramming, parts supply, software and data access, dealer agreements and territorial restrictions all determine whether a farmer can fix a machine during harvest or must wait days for an authorized technician. If the comment record shows the same pattern repeating across brands, the case for industry wide remedies becomes far stronger than a single consent order could deliver.

The choice of subjects is itself a signal. The agencies did not limit the inquiry to repair tools. They asked about distribution, about the terms manufacturers set for dealers, and about retaliation against customers who repair their own equipment or shop around for better prices. Those questions reach the business model that ties equipment sales to captive service and parts revenue. The July 8, 2026 Deere order already shows the shape of a remedy: ten years of mandated sharing of repair software and specialized tools under agency supervision, with dealer nondiscrimination obligations attached.

The surrounding context reinforces that reading. The Justice Department and USDA memorandum of understanding named competition in the agriculture input sector as a top priority, Executive Order 14364 of December 6, 2025 directs agencies to examine whether anticompetitive behavior in food supply chains raises costs of living, and the announcement landed during political outreach to rural voters. Investors treated the news as material, with farm equipment stocks falling on the day.

Why It Matters

For farmers, the practical stakes are measured in downtime. A machine that cannot be diagnosed or restarted during planting or harvest costs money every hour, and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins framed the restrictions as producing added costs and lost labor time. If the inquiry confirms that parts, software and dealer rules, rather than mechanical failure, are the bottleneck, then the fix is a policy question rather than a service scheduling problem.

For Deere, Caterpillar, CNH Industrial and AGCO, the exposure runs beyond a single product line. The Deere order demonstrates that the FTC is willing to compel ten years of software and tool sharing under supervision, and a sector wide inquiry creates a record that could support similar or broader remedies. Because the inquiry spans manufacturing and distribution, it also puts dealer agreements and territorial restrictions in scope, which touches the independent dealer networks that many rural communities depend on.

For competition policy generally, this is the FTC's latest effort to convert a narrow repair case into a market wide framework, following the Deere settlement and the September 2026 Corteva settlement. If it succeeds, the model of pairing company specific orders with open sector inquiries could become the template for agricultural enforcement well beyond equipment.

Next Up

The immediate step is the comment window, which closes at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on December 7, 2026, under docket FTC-2026-1585. Farmers, independent repair providers, and current and former employees of manufacturers and dealers have roughly two months to submit firsthand accounts and documents. Submissions from manufacturing industry insiders are likely to attract the most attention, given how directly the FTC Chair asked for them.

After the record closes, watch two tracks: whether the agencies convert the comments into specific enforcement actions against manufacturers or dealer practices, and whether the Deere stipulated order obtains court approval in the Northern District of Illinois, which would lock in the ten year repair software sharing requirement that the sector inquiry now builds upon.