As of 2020, no right to repair law has passed in the US. But more than 20 states are considering legislation similar to Nebraska’s, and Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have both supported national right to repair legislation for farmers.
When it comes to repair, farmers have always been self-reliant. But the modernization of tractors and other farm equipment over the past few decades has left most farmers in the dust thanks to diagnostic software that large manufacturers hold a monopoly over.
In this episode of State of Repair, we go to Nebraska to talk to the farmers and mechanics who are fighting large manufacturers like John Deere for the right to access the diagnostic software they need to repair their tractors.
This video originally aired on Motherboard in 2018.
00:00 Intro
01:02 The Modernization of Tractors
05:34 How Farmers Deal with the Repair Ban
07:15 Turning Ordinary Farmers into Activists
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24 comments
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Don't buy them
Indentured slavery to that company for that product for life should be illegal.
Leave ot to farmers to bŕing something so obvious and practical to our attention. When i see a warning label on something broken that indicates,"no user sericeable parts inside", thats means i better open that up.😁
There are other brands right? Why don't farmers vote with their wallet?
Digital technology is a curse, Old machines are way better, They worked.
Buy red.
Boycott John Deere,
good job brothers!
Legalised extortion plain and simple
Greedy corporation. Bet no one is a farmer in them..God bless the farmers.
I'd say JD and other companies are shooting themselves in the foot.! 🤔
Cant the farmers buy a Chinese tractor?
Time to crowd source/kickstart a company that makes reliable simple machines of all kinds. Even if those machines aren’t as efficient it sure as hell beats this high tech junk that no one can repair.
They're holding the farmers hostage. When the tractor breaks, the farmers are forced to go to John Deere and pay whatever the company asks. It's a monopoly over repair and is anti-competitive behavior. The farmers should consider taking the matter to the Federal Trade Commission…
"To fix our things", but that's it. These corporations make it clear that they don't want us actually owning anything.
Simple stop buying them
I love hackers. We really don't need to be locked out of something even though we have paid good money for it. Basically it means you never own what you have paid for so that is surely another issue that should be addressed. So if it can be hacked then bloody good. We know that electronics is disposable junk but there will come a time where people may see crops rot in the field because our glorious money hungry idiots don't want you to fix that combine because it is still their property. For the price of one of these machines it should be supplied WITH a FULL DIAGNOSTIC SOFTWARE PACKAGE and any downloads it needs should be FREE!
I have been repairing electronic stuff since I was 12 and I am now 66. Many of the companies I deal with won't sell any spare boards or specific parts for anything they produce. Worse though is that they insist on a return to them to fix it but my customers will not pay the price to do that and the chances are they won't fix it anyway. It is all part of designed in obsolescence and is entirely deliberate. So whereas much equipment is relatively easy to fix if its a board swap they know that either they charge the price of a complete new unit to supply the board or worse they say they never fail and therefore never need to supply spares. That mentality tells you they are determined you will just buy new but what they forget is people have a choice and they will go elsewhere. There are also people who are willing to hack things. When a truck load of gear arrives that has all failed under warranty and all 50 items are unrepairable because there are no spares to fix them you know that the stupidity of these manufacturers means they will go out of business. If just this 50 items were swapped out for brand new replacements then that is a net loss of those units. And I am just one repairer what about all the rest?
I'm in the renewable solar energy inverter repairs, going on 40-plus years, and I have the the same issue with service diagrams and parts.
Some of the companies that won't support 3rd party shops are OutBack, Schnieder and Magnum inverters.
This should be responsibilty of Government to keep the cooporates in check and balance. Write to repair and blueprint should be available to public.
It is B.S. We the people need to demand change in our favor.
Buy a Volvo tractor,not green,but very powerful..Buy the right gear,and not John Deere! 🙂
Money is the root of evil and for not helping the farmer and helping the farmers he getting the good out say it money is there devil
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