[dhfhduk]

This is the tip of the iceberg with John Deere. They're squeezing sales franchises hard too, punishing sellers for doing business with anyone but Deere. Deere is basically trying to get complete control over the chain from sales to use to repair, and push out any and all competition anywhere along that chain.

[watter]

They have been on this path a long time. I grew up in the midwest and 30 years ago I remember there were "John Deere" farms and those farmers refused to buy anything else. Deere's marketing echoed this sentiment. The rest of the farmers had a mix of other brands, but almost never a Deere, because the reasoning was that you find the best product regardless of brand. There could also be an aspect of protest over quality, but in general I still believe Deere to be a little less than the other companies who often specialize in doing one thing (type of tractor) really well. It is probably obvious at this point I grew up on an anti-Deere farm but we eventually did buy one of their lawnmowers.