The right to repair

[MBgrower]

Farmers in usa fighting for the right to repair their own equipment, big business fighting back.




http://time.com/4828099/farmers-and-apple-fight-over-the-toolbox/

Seems i lost the options to add links, images etc. Anyone else?

[farming101]

[URL="http://time.com/4828099/farmers-and-apple-fight-over-the-toolbox/"]http://time.com/4828099/farmers-and-apple-fight-over-the-toolbox/[/URL]

Good article. After spending many thousands to get two boards diagnosed and replaced and finally sorta working it sure seems like it would be good to do some of this stuff on our own. Poor quality proprietary electronics are a big problem.

[15444]

Simple answer, only run older equipment. Want the new stuff? Just accept that John Deere and the like own your soul (JD guys probably like that thought) and wallet. Now bend over and take it or be smart and maybe buy some stock in the company - reap in the rewards like other investors. Obviously money in farming if people can afford the new equipment and the parts for them. Everything here is 50 years old and leaks out of every hole - but Walmart oil is cheap as pennies compared to what some people invest in iron.

Issues like this make buying a new Belarus/MTZ almost a smart move - no electronics in them.

[farmaholic]

Words like extortion, hostage and ransom work well to describe this situation.

Being charged mileage and shop rate, from and back to the Dealership shop, from the time the Tech leaves until they get back along with potential cost to replace failed modules, nodes or monitors can run into a lot of money.

I have a combine module, "made in Canada", and a swather monitor that are now making good paper weights....probably only need a minor electrical component replaced on the boards......but.....

And we all know most farming operations are "TIME SENSITIVE", so we pay for a new part and have it's brain programmed so it knows what to do.

That's making money with Ag electronics and software versions, 101! 101.1 long gone, probably up to version 101.1 to the power of a million.

[farmaholic]

15444, sadly you'd have to own a pile of stock and hope and pray the market pushes it's value up because you would need one hell of a dividend on a fair amount of stock to offset some electonic repair bills!

[hobbyfrmr]

It is awesome watching the neighbors invest in technology and efficiency. They are highly productive. They dont need to own or repair the equipment. They just lease it and the manufacturer fixes it under warrantee. This way they know/budget the cost per acre of each machine necessary from seeding to harvest.

[LEP]

Good idea Hobby. Maybe you should try it.

[hobbyfrmr]

Good idea Hobby. Maybe you should try it.

Ha ! No, my farm pratices are so out of date that yeilds are considerably lower than the area. There is not enough production to cash flow a lease on modern technology. I am stuck in the mid '80s , and I have to exercise the right to repair.
Its always the same old theme on this farm. "It worked good the first 30 years (or 9000 hours) now its a piece of crap!"

[farmaholic]

Ha ! No, my farm pratices are so out of date that yeilds are considerably lower than the area. There is not enough production to cash flow a lease on modern technology. I am stuck in the mid '80s , and I have to exercise the right to repair.
Its always the same old theme on this farm. "It worked good the first 30 years (or 9000 hours) now its a piece of crap!"

.........but it's your crap hobby!

[tweety]

Deere will be going home crying just like the loser auto industry did when they were sued for access.

The trouble with older stuff today is 20 year old equipment has fairly complex electronics in it and is no longer available since the chips are long obsolete.

[hobbyfrmr]

Deere will be going home crying just like the loser auto industry did when they were sued for access.

The trouble with older stuff today is 20 year old equipment has fairly complex electronics in it and is no longer available since the chips are long obsolete.

I am on the opposite side of the technology spectrum.
There is the bright side. l could "advance" a decade before electronics scribble the big picture around here.
My idea of progress is a new air ride seat, fully functional air conditioning, am/fm radio and a leased auto steer. The greatest limiting factor to this junk is that it only runs daylight hours. Even in the thick of farming prime time, there is usually 5-8 hours a day where my machinery is not running. After all the big fuss, it sits in a shed or it collects snow, depreciating for 6 months.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

As much as I am against government regulations or mandating anything... There should be a way to bypass and manually operate any piece of equipment. Like the flexicoil mechanical carts, the monitor and every electronic component and sensor could fail and the clutch can still be connected to a factory power supply and continue seeding blind. It would add a mostly redundant cost, but so does sitting for days waiting for a sensor or board that has no workaround to continue using the machine. Perhaps farmers need to be the ones holding the manufacturers hostage until they come up with a solution, rather than the other way around. Not going to happen though, since the users who pay for most of the repairs ( used equipment) aren't the same users who make the new equipment buying decisions on new equipment.

[tweety]

Not going to happen though, since the users who pay for most of the repairs ( used equipment) aren't the same users who make the new equipment buying decisions on new equipment.

That sums it up right there. And that's why they need to be sued for access.