Deere & Co. unfairly forces farmers to visit authorized dealers to repair their equipment, resulting in higher prices than if they could fix it themselves or get help from independent shops, the Federal Trade Commission claims in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday with the attorneys general of Illinois and Minnesota.

The lawsuit comes after years of the equipment manufacturer locking farmers out of making basic repairs to their equipment.

Incoming Federal Trade Commission Chair Andrew Ferguson blasted Democratic commissioners for suing Deere & Co. while regulators were in negotiations with the company to address farmers' complaints.

John Deere’s “unfair” practices raised repair costs for farmers and kept them from being able to make repairs on tractors and other equipment they own, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alleges in a new lawsuit.

The Federal Trade Commission sued Deere, alleging the tractor maker limits farmers’ ability to repair their own equipment, giving Deere an illegal monopoly on repair services. The FTC’s lawsuit, filed Wednesday in Chicago federal court,

John Deere's controversial practice that requires farmers to use its dealer network for repairs draws a lawsuit from the Federal Trade Commission

The sign outside a John Deere dealer is seen in Denver May 14, 2015. A weak global agriculture sector weighed heavily on quarterly results posted by Deere & Co on May 22, 2015, but earnings still topped expectations,

The Federal Trade Commission has sued the tractor manufacturer John Deere. The organization alleges “unfair” practices, high repair costs and an inability for regular consumers to repair devices on their own.

The lawsuit against the maker of John Deere tractors represents a final push in the Biden administration’s broader efforts to make repairs less costly for consumers.