As agricultural technology advances, farmers want to reserve the ‘right to repair’ their own equipment. In Ohio, securing that right has a ways to go. Earlier this year, John Deere signed a memorandum of understanding with the American Farm Bureau Federation, promising to share tools and software with farmers so they could more easily repair their tractors and combines without the help of a company-authorized technician.
The memorandum of understanding with the country’s largest farm equipment maker isn’t legally binding or enforceable though.
Now, more than a dozen states are discussing legislation about the ‘right to repair.’
Colorado and New York have already passed laws guaranteeing that right, but advocates for Ohio farmers say agricultural corporations hold so much power that a similar law is unlikely to come to fruition here.
They say that’s not only frustrating for Ohio’s farmers, but costly.
What is the ‘right to repair’ and why do farmers want it?
Modern farm equipment is high-tech and expensive.
Today’s tractors and combines, equipped with advanced computers, GPS trackers and temperature and moisture sensors, can easily cost upwards of $400,000.
When that equipment breaks down, farmers need repairs quickly.
“Agriculture has to happen within a few fairly modest, limited windows of weather and crop maturity,” said Joe Logan, president of the Ohio Farmers Union. “So when things are right, farmers need to be moving. They can't afford to have that half-a-million-dollar investment sitting in the middle of a field as inert as the ground upon which it works.”
But as equipment becomes more sophisticated, farmers increasingly are not able to make repairs on their own. Instead, they have to wait for company-authorized dealers who control access to manuals, diagnostics and parts.
Waiting for company-authorized repairmen can take days. And as agriculture equipment providers consolidate, those wait times are stretching even longer.
“There used to be dealers up and down the road, four or five of them that we could get to within half an hour,” Logan said. “Now, there may be one or two.”
Those remaining dealers serve more customers across larger areas.
“So when a farmer breaks down, he may be the sixth or seventh in line,” Logan said. “That farmer may have to wear out his patience before he can wear out his combine.”
The memorandum of understanding
Farmers want the ‘right to repair’ so they can bypass that line and fix their own equipment, limiting the amount of time wasted during busy planting and harvest seasons.
The memorandum of understanding between John Deere and the American Farm Bureau Federation seems to be a step toward achieving that goal.
“We look forward to working alongside the American Farm Bureau and our customers in the months and years ahead to ensure farmers continue to have the tools and resources to diagnose, maintain and repair their equipment,” said David Gilmore, John Deere’s Senior Vice President of Ag & Turf Sales & Marketing, in a statement.
But the MOU only goes so far.
Because the agreement isn’t legally binding, it has no means of enforcement.
“Perhaps its intentions were noble,” Logan says, “but, unfortunately, it included no language, no teeth to make sure that John Deere or any other equipment manufacturer would have to abide by this.”
Source: statenews.org
Photo Credit: GettyImages-LightFieldStudios
Categories: Ohio, Business, Equipment & Machinery