This article is part of TPM Cafe, TPM’s home for opinion and news analysis. It was originally published at The Conversation.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1448934
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1448934
We went green for our tractor at the farm. I’m not aware of any issues with our repair of the tractor when things break down. The local dealer typically comes with a trailer, they load it up, fix it and return it. We’re in CT.
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Under the agreement, John Deere promises to give farmers and independent repair shops access to manuals, diagnostics and parts. But there’s a catch – the agreement isn’t legally binding, and, as part of the deal, the influential Farm Bureau promised not to support any federal or state right-to-repair legislation.
The catch isn’t good, of course, but it’s a nose under the tent.
Seed and equipment monopolies, combined with, under the Big Ag system, farmers’ having no say in what prices their crops will bring, effectively recreate the old share-cropping system. Smaller-scale, more diverse farming is one way out of that system, but conventional farming needs to mend its ways–it certainly doesn’t encourage people to stay in farming, let alone encourage their kids to farm.
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“Right To” movements and laws are usually nice-sounding corporate whitewash intended to promote their interests at the expense of regular people, like anti-union Right To Work laws or pro-agribiz Right To Farm laws. And then there’s the anti-abortion Right To Life thing. So it’s refreshing to see a law that employs this phrasing appear to actually be pro-regular people. I hope this extends to consumer vehicles which increasingly come with complex setups that can’t be fixed or maintained by regular people, even oil changes and tune ups in some cases. But these laws need to be binding or else they’re whitewash.
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I lived in a small college town in central Iowa for 10 years from 2000 to 2015. The local Chamber of Commerce equivalent hosted a leadership class every spring for new arrivals which primarily consisted of tours of significant local businesses.
One of these was of the local seed corn plant which at that time was owned and operated by Monsanto.
I grew up in a city in North Dakota many years ago and had always thought I knew something about agriculture. At that time, the dominant crops in North Dakota were “wheat ‘n’ beets.” (Those would be sugar beets, not salad beets).
Iowa was a whole New World of “corn and beans.” I had no idea what a seed corn plant was all about. (Wheat seeds are tiny so don’t need the mechanical sorting that corn varieties do for efficiency in planting.) Truly astonishing.
City dwellers have little idea, if any, of the factory-ization/industrialization of Big Ag.
Addendum: North Dakota now grows lotza corn and beans as the Corn Belt has inexorably expanded northward as a result of Global Warming providing higher temperatures and longer growing seasons. And of course the corn subsidies are generous.
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Downstream control through manipulation of the IP framework is not just an agriculture feature. For example, Oracle sues the shit out of any third party with the temerity to provide support for an installed database.
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In my business - if sending equipment to the authorized repair shop for engine code issues - many weeks before it’s back.
Would I hire a diesel mechanic in my own shop to fix it in house. Absolutely yes. But for most makes we’re no allowed or able to get the diagnostic sorftware.
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The point of the article is that from many brands, you are prohibited or prevented from fixing it yourself. And if the dealer is backed up with work, tough luck.
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Grinnell?
Rather than hiring independent repair shops, farmers have increasingly had to wait for company-authorized dealers to arrive. Getting repairs could take days, often leading to lost time and high costs.
The Amish may be on to something. At least until someone figures out how to patent a horse, and then requires vets to pay annual license fees.
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I’m glad we are sticking it to big business but I have to wonder why we start with Farmers
Never mind…
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I believe that she understands the point of the article. She was just sharing her experience on her family’s farm.
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The patent office is handing out patents for ridiculous things. The agency granted a patent to Amazon for a “1 click” feature in its software that allows its customers to make repeat purchases at the site with just one mouse click. When Barnes and Noble used one click on its website, it was sued by Amazon for patent infringement.
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Right to repair is just as much about getting access to replacement parts and support documentation for your phone or laptop. It’s about actually owning the things we pay thousands of dollars to acquire. It’s about allowing third party repair shops to recover your documents from your iPhone after it gets wet and Apple refuses to touch it
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Well, since she didn’t indicate whether or not they were locked in to having to use the dealer for repairs, it did not seem responsive to the article.
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My car threw a “Check Engine” light early last month. My mechanic explained what the code meant generally, but said I’d have to take it to the dealer.
Apparently, this alert kicks the engine into a low performance mode to protect the drive train. Called the dealer. Two weeks for an appointment. I parked it.
The fix was a software upgrade. Free, fortunately.
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That photo could have been taken at my brother in law’s family farm.
I appreciate how this article takes the right to repair movement, and its focus on equipment, and expands it to discuss other problems with the patent system, such as the ridiculous patents on non-gmo seeds.
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We’re in CT as well. The issue is with the computerized components on larger/newer tractors. Manufacturers are not releasing manuals, and if you’re able to “find” the manual and parts, you need to do a software update to get it all working again.
Russia has been stealing Tractors from Ukraine and taking them back to Russia. Deere has been able to lock out the thieves- just like Deere can lockout the rightful owners. No, Software-Bricked Tractors Thwarting Russian Looters Is Not A Sign That Either John Deere Or Copyright Is Good | Techdirt
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We have a truly good dealership that provides all the repair activity.
Sadly, they lost a number of smaller pieces of equipment a couple of years ago - it was a crime ring that struck them. Not sure if they were able to recover what was stolen, but the town is a small town - fewer than 20,000 - so the robbery was a pretty big deal for awhile.
In any case, the dealership has always done well by my son in law.
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Another advantage of horses is that they can reproduce. You could go out to the barn and discover that you have a new addition to your work force. I don’t think that has ever happened with tractors.
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