Congress moves to break farm equipment repair monopoly

What it does

The FARM Act requires agricultural equipment manufacturers (like John Deere) to sell repair parts, diagnostic tools, software, and repair documentation to independent repair shops and equipment owners at fair prices and terms. It prevents manufacturers from locking repairs to their own authorized dealers, blocking third-party parts, or charging excessive fees for diagnostic software—while preserving trade-secret protections and emissions/safety compliance.

Why we flagged it

The bill's core mechanism is straightforward: it mandates that farm equipment manufacturers provide repair parts, tools, and documentation on fair terms to independent repair providers and equipment owners. This is a consumer-protection and competition measure, not a subsidy, tax carve-out, or commemorative provision.

What the text implies

• Manufacturers may respond by raising equipment purchase prices to offset lost repair-monopoly revenue, shifting the cost burden from repair to initial sale.
• The 'fair and reasonable terms' standard is undefined in dollar amounts, creating potential litigation over what constitutes fairness—manufacturers may challenge FTC enforcement.
• Emissions-compliance carve-out (section 6) may allow manufacturers to deny access to diagnostic tools that would reveal emissions-control circumvention, creating a loophole.
• Software bill-of-material disclosure requirement may expose proprietary algorithms or firmware architecture, though trade-secret language attempts to limit this.

Who it affects

Farmers and independent repair shops gain the right to repair equipment they own without being forced into expensive manufacturer-authorized service networks. This lowers repair costs, increases competition, and restores consumer choice—offsetting the manufacturers' loss of repair-monopoly revenue.

Who stands to gain

• independent repair shops
• farm equipment owners
• agricultural service providers

Named in the bill

FTC (Federal Trade Commission), OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer), John Deere (implied primary target), AGCO, CNH Industrial, Kubota, EPA (emissions compliance reference), Copyright Office (section 1201 DMCA reference)

Where it stands

3 cosponsors: 3 Democrats.

• Oct 28, 2025 — Introduced · Congress.gov: “Introduced in House”
• Oct 28, 2025 — Referred to House Committee on Energy and Commerce · Congress.gov: “Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce”

Dates and quoted wording are Congress.gov's action record; the timeline shows status changes, not every procedural step.

Money around this bill

3 lobbying clients named this bill on 5 disclosure filings across 2 quarters, Dec 2025 to Jun 2026. Those filings disclosed $2,580,000 in lobbying spend. A filing names 20 bills on average, so that figure is what each filing reported, not a share belonging to this bill.

More lobbying clients named this bill than 61% of bills with at least one filing.

Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, the sponsor, reported $927,619 in PAC receipts in the 2026 cycle.

• Association of Equipment Manufacturers — $1,790,000 on 2 filings
• Case New Holland Industrial Inc — $680,000 on 2 filings
• Associated Equipment Distributors — $110,000 on 1 filing

Lobbying Disclosure Act filings through Jul 20, 2026. A filing shows who paid to lobby on a bill it names, not what changed.