Deere allows farmers to repair their own equipment

by Steve Schaeber, MACS technical editor

After years of debate, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) has been signed by the world’s largest farm machinery manufacturer.

On January 8, 2023, Deere & Company signed an agreement with the American Farm Bureau Federation which allows farmers and independent repair facilities access to the same service information, tools and equipment as their dealers. Notably this includes access to “Customer Service ADVISOR”, their electronic diagnostic service tool. Previously only available to dealers, the company is making it available directly to customers and independent repair shops through their JohnDeereStore.com website.

The MOU is effectively a “Right to Repair” agreement (similar to the Massachusetts Right to Repair law for the automotive aftermarket) that farmers have wanted for years. It gives them the opportunity to do their own repairs, with access to OEM service information and scan tool data.

The two parties met to sign the deal at AFBF’s 2023 Convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

AFBF’s president Zippy Duvall said it took years to work out the deal. “This is an issue that has been a priority for us for several years and has taken a lot of work to get to this point. And as you use equipment, we all know at some point in time, there’s going to be problems with it. And we did have problems with having the opportunity to repair our equipment where we wanted to, or even repair it on the farm.”

David Gilmore, senior VP of sales and marketing signed the deal for Deere & Company. At the press conference he said, “It’s vitally important that we have an opportunity for American Farm Bureau Federation and industry to come together to solve issues and opportunities that we have. Machinery and equipment and the products that our customers invest in are a large investment. And the opportunity for them to maximize the uptime of that equipment and minimize downtime is an important area of focus for our organization and for the industry.”

Many farmers hope this agreement can be used as a model for working together with other agricultural and construction equipment manufacturers.

MACS plans to further discuss the MOU with our colleagues at the next SAE HFTC6 meeting, which is scheduled for Wednesday, February 1 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, Tennessee (being held in conjunction with the MACS 2023 Training Event and Trade Show on February 2-4).

MACS 2023

And don’t forget… The MACS 2023 Training Event and Trade Show is taking place Feb 2-4, 2023 at the Gaylord Opryland Resort in Nashville, TN. Join us there to experience the BEST in mobile A/C information and training from our industry’s experts!

Here’s a link to the official MOU that was signed:

https://www.fb.org/files/AFBF_John_Deere_MOU.pdf

Here’s a link with more information on Customer Service ADVISOR from John Deere:

https://www.deere.com/en/stories/featured/expanding-access-to-self-repair-resources/

For more information about MACS, our website is: www.macsmobileairclimate.org

Have a comment about this article? We want to hear from you! info@macsmobileairclimate.org

Want to learn more about what’s happening in the mobile air conditioning industry? Be sure to read the next issue of ACtion Magazine! The mobile air conditioning industry’s journal of record. Published by MACS, you can find ACtion on our website.

Thanks for reading.

About the author:

Steve Schaeber is the technical editor and manager of service training for MACS, the Mobile Air Climate Systems Association. He’s been in the automotive industry since 1989 and writing about the mobile air conditioning sector since 2013. You can reach Steve at: sschaeber@macsmobileairclimate.org