I've always felt that the Tractor business was just waiting for new blood. Someone get on a less awful Tractor start-up.
The problem seems that they are dug in like a tick. Surrounded by thick bureaucracies and they actually helped write the laws that protect their profits, this is of course a full on slap in the face to who laws are supposed to protect....
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.
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.
Obligatory book link? (My first thought after seeing the tumblr title)
without a lot of knowledge my wag would be that the technology really is beneficial over non-smart competitors and that the other options probably have the same legal problems anyways.
Farmers tend have a tremendous amount of brand loyalty and farmers grew up loving John Deere.
John Deere always promoted the idea that you should be all-in with them. I know a lot of farmers absolutely hate them.
Local dealerships most likely. The town I lived in had 3-4 different dealers 30 years ago, at best they have 1-2 now. A lot of the non-chain shops were run out of business (probably often by their own accord, but not always) just like in other industries.