John Deere CFO just picked a fight with Trump by telling farmers to swallow this bitter pill
Tractor prices have been going through the roof, increasing costs for lots of products Americans need like food.
President Trump promised to slash the environmental regulations crushing American families and farmers with high equipment costs and market pressures.
But John Deere's chief financial officer just responded to Trump by telling farmers to swallow this bitter pill.
John Deere's CFO pushes back on Trump's solution
John Deere CFO Josh Jepsen appeared on Fox Business Monday with a message farmers didn't want to hear.
Trump had just finished announcing his plan to "take off a lot of the environmental restrictions" on farm equipment manufacturers to bring down skyrocketing tractor prices.
"Farming equipment has gotten too expensive, and a lot of the reason is because they put these environmental excesses on the equipment, which don't do a damn thing except make it complicated," Trump told reporters.¹
But Jepsen gently pushed back on the President's diagnosis.
"There's plenty of opportunity to continue to support our farmer customers and to make them more profitable and support them in many ways, whether that's through technology that can help them save on their inputs or improve their yields, as well as some of the regulations that they face," Jepsen told Fox Business host Liz Claman.²
The CFO insisted John Deere's high-tech solutions — from AI weed detection to autonomous tractors — are the real path to lowering farming costs.
"The ability to help farmers do more with less is critical," Jepsen added.³
He touted the company's "See & Spray" technology that can supposedly save farmers up to $15 per acre by cutting herbicide use by 60%.
"As we've had more emissions, there is more componentry, there's more software, there are more pieces of hardware that need to be incorporated as we reduce emissions," Jepsen explained when asked about Trump's comments on regulations.⁴
Translation: all that expensive environmental equipment is here to stay, so farmers better get used to it.
John Deere's tech push papers over the real problem
Jepsen's response reveals exactly what's wrong with the corporate approach to farming costs.
Farmers are being crushed by $300,000 tractors loaded with computers, sensors, and proprietary software they can't fix themselves.
John Deere tractors now range from $13,000 for basic models to over $1.2 million for high-end machines.⁵
The Federal Trade Commission just sued John Deere in January, accusing the company of forcing farmers to use only authorized dealers for repairs.⁶
Farmers lose an estimated $3 billion to tractor downtime every year because they can't fix their own equipment.⁷
John Deere locks farmers out of the repair software, forcing them to wait days or weeks for expensive dealer technicians while their crops rot in the field.
Missouri farmer Jared Wilson told NBC News that broken equipment has cost him hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years.
"When you have machines that are failing at those critical times of the year — when you have that one shot to get things right — it can severely impact your bottom line," Wilson said.⁸
But John Deere's answer is to pile on even more technology.
More AI systems farmers don't control.
More subscription software they can't access without paying Deere.
More complexity that guarantees equipment breakdowns during harvest season.
Corporate greed disguised as innovation
The CFO bragged about retrofitting existing tractors with new technology — which means farmers who already paid for equipment will pay again for John Deere's latest gadgets.
Environmental regulations requiring diesel exhaust fluid systems and emissions controls have added tens of thousands of dollars to tractor prices.⁹
Trump's EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin already announced plans to roll back greenhouse gas emission standards, calling them "$1 trillion in regulations" based on "warped science."¹⁰
Nebraska Farm Bureau director Jordan Dux explained that Tier 4 diesel emission systems "add tens of thousands to equipment price tags" and "a vast majority of repairs that new agriculture equipment undergo are emissions-related."¹¹
When those emissions systems fail, they shut down the entire tractor.
Pre-2009 tractors without emissions systems now command higher resale values because farmers know they're more reliable.
But John Deere wants farmers to believe the solution is buying more of their technology — technology farmers can't repair, can't modify, and don't control.
The company makes more profit from repair services than from equipment sales.
A Virginia dealer told Farm Equipment magazine that service accounts for three times the net profit of equipment sales.¹²
John Deere charges $8,500 for the first year subscription to their "Service Advisor" diagnostic software — software that still doesn't give farmers full repair access.¹³
Trump's plan to remove environmental restrictions would actually lower costs by eliminating unnecessary systems.
Jepsen's response shows John Deere has zero interest in making equipment simpler, more reliable, or cheaper.
They'd rather keep farmers locked into expensive technology and repair monopolies that pad their multi-billion dollar profits.
American farmers deserve equipment they can fix themselves when it breaks down during planting season.
They don't need AI weed-spotting cameras and autonomous tractors they can't repair.
Trump got it right when he said modern equipment "is not as good as the old days."
¹ President Donald Trump, roundtable remarks, Fox Business, December 9, 2025.
² Josh Jepsen, interview, "The Claman Countdown," Fox Business, December 9, 2025.
³ Ibid.
⁴ Ibid.
⁵ "John Deere Tractors 2025 – Models, Prices, Specs," AllMachines, 2025.
⁶ "FTC, States Sue Deere & Company to Protect Farmers from Unfair Corporate Tactics, High Repair Costs," Federal Trade Commission, January 15, 2025.
⁷ "Right-to-repair revolution: Farmers challenge John Deere's control over equipment repair," NBC News, April 23, 2025.
⁸ Ibid.
⁹ Jordan Dux quoted in "EPA proposes repeal of greenhouse gas emission standards for vehicles," Farm Progress, August 8, 2025.
¹⁰ Lee Zeldin statement, Environmental Protection Agency, August 2025.
¹¹ Jordan Dux quoted in "EPA proposes repeal of greenhouse gas emission standards for vehicles," Farm Progress, August 8, 2025.
¹² "Why is John Deere so opposed to letting farmers fix their stuff?" The Repair Association, August 23, 2024.
¹³ Ibid.
