Hacker News Reader

They have - agricultural co-ops are popular and common for exactly those reasons. They haven't moved into ag equipment yet though (at least in a big way), I'm guessing since modern equipment is complicated and advanced enough that it makes sense to have a separate organisation that designs and builders them.

Deere already has plenty of competitors. CNH taken as a whole is approximately the same size if you look at the global market. Farmers are not prisoners of Deere. They can just buy another brand.

Not really true, given Deere's patent portfolio.

Because you can trademark colors, and ultimately the color is the most important aspect of a tractor.

JD makes it incredibly easy to finance equipment, which I doubt a competitor could do.

It’s not like there’s a lack of competition anyway.