Regulators open a farm-equipment competition inquiry, and Deere, AGCO and CNH shares slide

The Federal Trade Commission and the Agriculture Department on Wednesday opened a joint public inquiry into how farm machinery is sold and serviced, asking farmers, independent repair shops and people who work or have worked for manufacturers and dealers whether the industry's practices are holding back competition.

The request for information is not a lawsuit, and it does not name any company as a target. Most of its 12 questions are about the dealer networks that stand between equipment makers and farmers: whether manufacturers impose territorial sales or service restrictions on dealers, whether dealers agree with one another to restrict customers by territory, and what price differences or penalties buyers face when they shop at a dealer outside their designated area. It asks whether access to repairs or replacement parts is tied to buying a machine from a specific dealer, whether manufacturers or dealers have communicated or coordinated on territory, pricing or dealer access, and how the terms offered to U.S. buyers compare with those the same companies offer abroad.

Two questions deal with retaliation against farmers, repair providers, dealers and dealer employees, which the notice defines to include being blacklisted, denied equipment or parts, deprioritized or given worse commercial terms. Comments are due by 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Dec. 7 through Regulations.gov, and people who want a submission kept off the public record can send it to the FTC with a request for confidential treatment. The agencies said the information will be used "to inform enforcement and regulatory priorities and future actions."

Why equipment stocks fell

Shares of the biggest farm-equipment makers fell after the announcement. At 3:36 p.m. Eastern time, Deere & Co. was down 3.4% at $659.34, after falling as much as 5.7% during the session. Its rivals AGCO and CNH Industrial were down 6% and 6.1%, having been down as much as 8.4% and 7.5%.

Caterpillar, which makes construction and mining machinery rather than farm tractors, was down 5.5% and had been the weakest stock in the Dow Jones Industrial Average in afternoon trading. Its generator sales have been booming on demand from data-center developers, and the shares were still up nearly 42% for the year in early afternoon trading.

The inquiry lands on manufacturers already coping with a slower market. Farmers have pulled back on buying new machinery in recent years as crop prices weakened, and elevated interest rates have made equipment more expensive to finance.

What the agencies say they are hearing

The Agriculture Department said farmers have told it in meetings that they face barriers to acquiring equipment and the service needed to keep it running, and that those barriers "increase the cost of production" and push up food prices for consumers. The department tied its role to an executive order directing the FTC to examine whether anticompetitive behavior raises the cost of living for Americans.

FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson wrote in a social media post that farmers "shouldn't have to overcome artificial service barriers to keep their farm machinery running or pay inflated prices for critical equipment." Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins wrote that "added costs and lost labor time are the result of these misguided restrictions for our farmers and ranchers."

How it builds on the Deere case

The notice opens by citing the FTC's recent farm cases. In January 2025 the agency and several states sued Deere, alleging that it gave only its authorized dealers the software tools needed for key repairs, which forced farmers to rely on those dealers. A settlement announced July 8 requires Deere, for 10 years and under supervision by the FTC and five states, to give farmers and independent repair providers the same repair resources, including software, that it gives its dealers.

The notice also points to a Sept. 28 settlement with Corteva over pesticide loyalty programs and to an industry-wide investigation of fertilizer prices that Ferguson ordered in May. The new request reaches beyond repair to how dealers are organized, how territories are drawn and whether ownership of dealerships has consolidated.

What comes next

A request for information gathers evidence. It does not allege that any company broke the law, and it does not by itself require any change in how equipment is sold or serviced. The comment window runs through the harvest season and closes Dec. 7, after which the agencies can decide whether the responses warrant investigations of specific companies or new rules.