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Farmers Demand Right To Fix Their Own Dang Tractors (modernfarmer.com)

Posted by msmash on from the right-to-repair dept.

According to a report, farmers are demanding the right to fix their tractors. The report reminds us that owners of tractors aren't allowed to fix them, thanks to a set of laws designed to protect software intellectual property. The world's largest tractor maker, John Deere, in fact, says that people who purchase tractors don't really own them and instead they are getting an "implied license for the life of the vehicle to operate the vehicle." Some farmers are voicing their opinion against these laws. From the article: What this has meant is that tractor owners can't repair their own tractors -- and if they do, they're in violation of the DMCA. So, if a machine stops working, its owner can't pop the hood, run some tests, and find out what's going on; he or she is legally required to take the tractor to a service center (one owned by the manufacturer, since that's the only entity allowed to analyze the tractor's issues). This can be expensive and time-consuming, and more to the point, unnecessary -- at least according to farmers in several states, who are lobbying to force tractor manufacturers make their diagnostic tools available to independent repair shops and owners. Not everyone is on the farmers' side here; some, according to the Associated Press, are concerned that the move would reduce revenue to tractor manufacturers, potentially landing them in trouble. But the tractor owners disagree, annoyed that their tractors are treated differently from their cars and trucks, which can be serviced by any independent shop.

14 of 639 comments (clear)

  1. License to work by Calydor · · Score: 5, Insightful

    So basically John Deere is reserving the right to cancel any of these licenses, impound the farmer's tractors, and put him out of a job?

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    -=This sig has nothing to do with my comment. Move along now=-
    1. Re:License to work by mrclevesque · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Shouldn't John Deere be clear then, and say they only rent tractors

    2. Re:License to work by guises · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Most of your argument there consists of, "I hate farmers." You throw in a bit at the end about how non-sale sales and customer lock-in are okay, although maybe that's only when they're directed at farmers, who you hate.

      Ignoring the first part of your argument: when a company sells a product, but retains practical ownership over that product, that's a big problem and it's been happening more and more wherever the opportunity to do so has arisen. The farmers in this case are asking for nothing which hasn't already been addressed for other vehicles, and regardless of how greedy they may be this is a perfectly reasonable request.

    3. Re:License to work by CaptSlaq · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I don't think that's what John Deere is meaning for at all. And let me play devil's advocate here for a minute, as someone who has worked with farmers in the past.

      First of all, as someone who grew up working on farms and with farmers, let me dispel some of the Norman Rockwell bullshit image about the "noble farmer." The farmers that I knew coming up weren't the "heart and soul of America" (well, maybe they were, but not in a good way). They were the greediest, cheapest bunch of sonabitches you ever wanted to meet in your life. They would routinely try cheat their workers, crawl over their mother's dead bodies to make an extra penny, lie, cheat, and often outright steal if they thought they could get away with it. They were the kind of unabashed brutal capitalists who would easily give the most heartless Wall Street prick a run for his money in greed and avarice.

      They didn't do this out of necessity, mind you. Most of the farmers I knew had plenty of money. Far from the popular image of the poor struggling farmers, most of them were quite well-off. Yet they would cheat you out of every dime they could if they got a chance. And when the illegals came in to my area in a big way back in the late-80's and early-90's, these "noble farmers" were the first to happily hire them, cutting farmhand wages in half and pocketing the difference by flagrantly breaking the law. The average farmworker salary went from $7/hr. to $4/hr. almost overnight, in spite of the fact that farmers were already making good money paying their workers $7/hr.

      With that in mind, I suspect this John Deere situation has something in common with the controversial Monsanto seed situation, in that the real truth is that it boils down to cheap-ass greedy farmers using the "evil big corporation vs. the little noble farmer" image to their advantage by villianizing John Deere. What I suspect is REALLY going on here is that John Deere and other manufacturers have adopted a model of selling their equipment to farmers either at a loss or at cost, with the understanding that they'll make their profit in implicit servicing contracts. And the farmers, now that they have the equipment in hand on the cheap, have decided to "alter the deal" (to quote the great Darth Vader) to save a buck. And they're playing on their bullshit image to portray themselves as the little guy fighting back against evil big business to do it, when in reality they're every bit as greedy and underhanded as the company they're fighting (likely more so).

      Now go ahead an mod me down, all of you whose only knowledge of farmers comes from John Mellencamp songs.

      I won't contest that farmers are businessmen first, despite being firmly blue collar, but they DO have to hedge against QUITE a bit of stuff. While they don't worry about "the consumer won't buy our product", they DO worry about "what happens when the crop gets destroyed by bad weather/vermin/disease" and "geez that's a lot of water I'm having to pump this year". These impact the bottom line and have to be hedged against. Long term farmers hedge against multiple seasons of bad, which is why they've survived as long as they have.

      The amount of assets (which includes the land itself) required for farming is pretty significant when compared to most other businesses.

      Broken equipment doesn't just cost "what's in my SLA", but could cost a significant yeild of a crop. Being able to fix stuff in-situ makes sure the wheels keep turning. This is (part) of the argument against John Deere: Calling them during a busy time is potentially a massive problem because "Locusts are chewing through the field next to mine and if I don't get mine crop harvested, I'm not going to get anything out if it either." "We can dispatch someone tomorrow" is a non-starter at times. I don't know how the SLAs are set up for farm equipment, if there are any. When my family was working, it was fixed in place with bailing wire, duct tape, bubble gum, and spit, until it could be fixed right.

    4. Re:License to work by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      I can vouch for this as well. If you're a smaller farmer, 20 to less than 1000 acres, this isn't really the case, but if you're bigger, yes, 100% of them are completely driven by greed. The one and only exception to this rule is dry land farmers. They can still be "small" yet they need 40,000 acres just to produce the same as an irrigation farm on much less land. I grew up around all large (10,000 - 100,000 acre farms) they are just huge corporations and there isn't any difference between them and any other large greedy corporation. They are not growing food for people or animals, they are making money, growing food for people and animals is just how they get there. In fact several of the farms I grew up around are owned by Fortune 50 companies. It's just money. It's not about anything else. They pollute the environment and they just don't care about their people or the people or animals they are feeding.

    5. Re:License to work by neurojab · · Score: 5, Informative

      As a counterpoint to this, my childhood was on a farm, and pretty much was straight out of a John Mellencamp song. We didn't have hired hands, were not dirt poor but certainly not "well off". We pretty much did all the work as a family - including fixing the tractors to some degree. Well, honestly, my dad did that and at best I watched. That might not be your experience, and I respect that, but small family farms still do exist in some parts of the US. I can see why these folks would want to fix their own tractors. For one, do you know how hard it is to get a tractor that isn't working to a dealer?

      As for John Deere being a greedy corporation or just trying to make an honest buck - you can look at it either way. The fact is that tractors these days are large very expensive pieces of machinery that are generally not purchased sans financing - so the initial cost vs monthly cost is just a matter of which pocket the money comes from.

  2. Obvious solution by XxtraLarGe · · Score: 5, Informative

    Don't reward bad behavior. While the law does need to be changed, the other avenue is to stop buying John Deere tractors. There are several other options. Case IH seems to be more than willing to supply repair manuals for their equipment.

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    Taking guns away from the 99% gives the 1% 100% of the power.
  3. reduce revenue? are you kidding me?! by nimbius · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...would reduce revenue to tractor manufacturers

    bullshit. Speaking as someone who grew up on a farm, almost no independent farmer "buys" a tractor. Its all leased seasonally or yearly, depending on what/when you need it. These manufacturers have a constant stream of interest payments and down payments coming from their own financial lending firms.

    A Claas-Axion, used: is $140,000. assuming youve got a lot more than 100 acres, youre going to need a xerion...which again used is more than 200 grand. Do you want to harvest those crops too? you wont be buying Claas because theyre harder than hens teeth to find. John Deere is going to run you through the ringer for another $335,000 "9 series" combine that will refuse to start for almost any code.

    so in short, no one on a farm owns a tractor and if they do its 50 years old. Youre hearing more about the DMCA iissue because shops are wising up and refusing to carry replacement and repair parts, at the behest of people like Deere that want to move more new stock in a car dealership model.

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    Good people go to bed earlier.
  4. Re:So the farmer is merely renting the tractor? by Scutter · · Score: 5, Insightful

    "Oh, sure, we'll fix it for free, but you have to bring it to our repair facility in Tucson. Oh, by the way, our single qualified technician is backlogged six months. If your crops can't wait six months, we do offer a premium value-added repair service that includes same-day onsite repairs..."

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    "Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
  5. Re:Missing Info by Charcharodon · · Score: 5, Informative
    Not even remotely what they are wanting. They want to be able to have access to the repair manuals, special tools, and software that is needed to work on the tractor, which currently all the manufacturers are keeping for themselves and refuse to sell to the public.

    When I bought my last 4x4 SUV (FJ Cruiser) part of the deal was a full set of dealer repair manuals. Most of the dealers I went to did not want to sell them to me. The one that did, and was willing to order me a vehicle to the specs I wanted not just what ever they had on the lot, got my business. While the manuals themselves ran me $600, they have paid for themselves a couple times over since I could do most of the minor work myself. Half the battle is just knowing where all the damn screws are located to get a part off. A must have if you are going to modify and work on your own vehicle.

    A few examples of what I'm talking about.

    AC repair. Dealer $160 labor, parts $350. DIY $50.
    Cabin air filter Dealer $50, DIY $6.
    OEM trailer hitch install $350. DIY $120.
    OEM alarm. Dealer $275. DIY $0. Changed setting in ECM.
    Plastic body panel replacement. Dealer $500 parts and labor. DIY $100
    Seatbelt warning bell. Dealer didn't want to turn it off, claimed it was impossible. DIY $0 changed setting in ECM. Fucking priceless never having to listen to that piece of shit ding again.

  6. One Thing Missing... by twmcneil · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Just like in our business, uptime is crucially important for these farmers. During the spring planting time and the fall harvest period, if that machine breaks, it needs to be RIGHT NOW. They can't wait a "few days" for the dealership mechanic to visit. And he's busy as all hell fixing our people's shit. This isn't just a bunch hay-seeds saying they want to break their knuckles for the fun of it. This is a very serious situation that can have devastating effects on the bottom line.

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    "The ferrets, they're every where I tell you!"
  7. I will support them by mysidia · · Score: 5, Interesting

    But ONLY if they will support a Universal Right to Repair law.

    Cars and Tractors should not be special. We should have the same rights to ALL DEVICES mechanical and electronic.

  8. The bill is due by Joe+Branya · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Iowa farmers: Please ask the state to send all property tax bills for John Deere tractors to the "owner" (John Deere) instead of the farmer. Ask for all the state sales tax money back since there was no sale. Ask JD for the liability insurance policy number for all the tractors since they apparently own them. The possibilities are endless

  9. This is why my cousins all have New Holland gear.. by Mysticalfruit · · Score: 5, Informative

    My cousins all have New Holland equipment for this reason. They're easy to repair, all the engine codes are published and parts are easily orderable.

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    Yes Francis, the world has gone crazy.