Nevada Farmers Gain Right-to-Repair Access in John Deere Settlement Even Though AG Ford Absent from Action

Nevada farmers will gain easier access to repair their own John Deere tractors and farm machinery under a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), even though Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford (D) did not join Nevada in the multistate action.

Attorneys general from several states and the FTC announced the agreement this week, requiring the agriculture equipment giant to provide diagnostic tools, repair software, and technical information to equipment owners and independent repair shops (not just authorized Deere dealers) for the next 10 years. The company is also barred from retaliating against those who choose independent repairs and must pay $1 million to cover the states’ enforcement costs.

While Nevada Democrat Attorney General Aaron Ford has added Nevada to numerous lawsuits against the Trump administration, he sat this one out. Observers suggest his office may prioritize high-profile partisan matters over state-level antitrust cases involving private companies, or that Nevada’s agricultural sector was not deemed sufficiently impacted. Regardless, Nevada farmers will still benefit from the nationwide changes.

This follows a separate $99 million class-action settlement paid to farmers earlier this year and advances the right-to-repair movement. In rural Nevada, where equipment downtime affects operations, these changes could lower costs and improve efficiency.