The news on the right-to-repair (R2R) front had been quiet for a couple months.Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) made sure to change that this morning with a letter to Deere Chairman John C. May.
It’s worth mentioning that Warren is up for reelection this year.
Clear Air Act & R2R
In all the years that I’ve been covering the R2R debate, one thing held constant from discussions with equipment dealers and OEMs — that tampering with or modifying a piece of equipment’s engine and emissions system could be a violation of the Clean Air Act. At no point was I aware dealers and manufacturers didn’t want customers repairing their own equipment; but they sure didn’t want them modifying it.
And now in Warren’s letter, she’s flipped the script and is accusing Deere of “evading its responsibilities under the Clean Air Act to grant customers the right to repair their own agricultural equipment.” She suggests the diagnostic tools and manuals Deere provides are impaired and Deere hasn’t provided inadequate disclosures.
The Cost of Everything is Up
In nice, bold and centered text, she writes “John Deere Bars Farmers from Fixing Their Own Machines While Overcharging for In-House Repair Services, Costing Farmers Thousands of Dollars per Year.”
The folks in Moline probably sighed as loud, if not louder, than I did. Warren claims that over the last 2 decades the cost of parts and labor needed to repair ag equipment has nearly doubled and has skyrocketed 41% since 2020.
Maybe Ms. Warren hasn’t seen all the news articles and political ads about inflation and the economy that I’m seeing here in Wisconsin. Here are a few other things that have gone up in cost over the last 2 decades:
- Federal Minimum Wage +40.8%
- Eggs +65.5%
- Housing +89%
- Food & Beverages +90%
- New Cars +25%
- Tuition, School Fees, Childcare +158%
- Household Energy +110%
- College Tuition & Fees +178%
- Medical Care +111%
Seems like inflation is only the villain when it’s convenient for the candidates. And while I’m sure that the cost for parts and service have gone up, so too has the cost of raw materials,labor, freight and fuel and so on.
Alternative Facts on Dealers & Farmers
While discussing all the ways John Deere is “preventing” farmers from getting their equipment fixed, Warren claims there are just 3 John Deere dealerships in Massachusetts “for 470,000 acres of farm operations, which translates to 2,400 farms per dealership.” My quick search on Deere's “find a dealer” tool indicates 3 dealership owner groups and 15 stores.
If you look at the USDA data she uses as her source, the 2,400 farms per dealership presumably comes from dividing the 7,100 farm operations in the state by 3. If you do it by the actual number of store, the number of farm operations per dealership is 473. And while Deere wished it was true, it doesn’t have 100% market share in the state. Surely, those farmers are choosing to do business with the 5 Case IH and 10 New Holland store in the state.
Among a list of 11 demands (read her letter here), Warren asks, “What were John Deere’s profits for each of the past 5 years?” and “How much of these profits came from equipment repairs?” As you all know, service is handled at the dealer level and as a result Deere isn’t lining its pockets from those labor service sales.
The 6-page letter is another example of the misinformation and smear efforts that have plagued the R2R campaign since it began. Don’t let your guard down, keep communicating with customers and don’t allow falsehoods and alternative facts claim the oxygen in the room. Stand up and tell your story, too.
