Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, along with AGs from four other states and the Federal Trade Commission, reached a major ten-year antitrust settlement with John Deere. The settlement, which was secured a month ago, gave farmers and independent businesses the ability to repair their own equipment. Minnesota Farmers Union President Gary Wertish praised Ellison for his work on this issue. “When the farmers spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for the equipment, they should have the right to repair it themselves,” said Wertish. “There was an MOU that was signed a few years back with John Deere and other OEMs, but that does not give everything that the farmer or the independent repair shop needed to actually fix stuff.” Wertish believes competition from independent repair shops is good for rural communities and that is good for Rural America.
