USDA and the Federal Trade Commission opened a joint public inquiry into farm equipment manufacturing and distribution markets on Oct. 7, giving farmers, independent repair shops and industry insiders until Dec. 7 to document practices that restrict competition.

Comments must reach Regulations.gov by 10:59 p.m. Central time on that date. The agencies said the submissions will guide enforcement and regulatory priorities and future actions.

USDA has already received complaints about barriers to buying equipment and obtaining the services needed to keep it operating, according to the agencies. The inquiry now asks for concrete evidence to back that record.

What practices are under scrutiny?

The request for information targets five specific areas of the equipment supply chain:

• Dealer sales territories
• Pricing practices
• Dealership consolidation
• Access to parts
• Access to repairs

Beyond those structural questions, the agencies want firsthand accounts of restrictions, penalties or retaliation. They also ask for examples showing how such practices affect costs, service availability and competition — the operational margins that determine whether a grower's machinery line item stays within budget.

Who can comment?

The inquiry is not limited to farmers. The agencies explicitly encourage submissions from:

• Farmers
• Independent repair providers
• Current employees of equipment manufacturers and dealerships
• Former employees of equipment manufacturers and dealerships

That last group matters. Insider accounts from manufacturer and dealership staff could surface contract terms and territorial practices that never appear in public pricing.

How does the Deere settlement fit in?

The inquiry builds on the FTC's July settlement with Deere & Company over repair restrictions. Under that agreement, Deere must provide farmers and independent repair shops with repair resources equivalent to those available to its own dealers.

The settlement established the enforcement precedent. The USDA-FTC inquiry now widens the lens from a single manufacturer's repair policies to the structure of the entire equipment manufacturing and distribution sector.

Why the deadline matters

For growers, the comment window is a chance to quantify what restricted parts access or consolidated dealerships cost in downtime during planting and harvest — costs that flow directly into per-acre machinery expense. The agencies have committed to using the record to shape enforcement and regulatory priorities and future actions, meaning the weight of any subsequent case will rest heavily on what the docket contains when it closes Dec. 7.