Deere & Company (“Deere”), better known as “John Deere,” is the leading manufacturer in the North American agricultural equipment market, with market shares of approximately 53 percent of large farm tractors in North America, and 60 percent in the combine segment. Recently, Deere sent shock waves through the American farming community when it announced a new policy with the effect of locking farmers out of the software used in Deere equipment. Deere’s lockout policy prevents farmers from repairing and maintaining their own machines, as they have done for decades.

This article briefly discusses how Deere’s repair policy may violate antitrust and consumer protection laws, before turning to a discussion of the potential impact of Deere’s policy on digital farming. Deere asserts that it owns data gathered from its machines’ software. We discuss how Deere may be attempting to monopolize the growing digital agriculture market by collecting, controlling and amalgamating farm data from its equipment’s software. We further discuss how Deere may be conspiring to monopolize digital farming markets through its partnerships with companies such as Bayer/Monsanto, DowDupont, and BASF.