Farmers Fight For “Right To Repair”

Farmers Fight For “Right To Repair” FARM SHOP Miscellaneous Farmers and mechanics are leading the fight for the “Right to Repair” equipment Manufacturers including leading farm equipment companies are fighting to control access to diagnostic equipment and codes Without diagnostics today’s computer-controlled equipment can’t be repaired and manufacturers can charge what they want with no competition Even the U S Copyright Office stated in a June 2017 report that it believes something has to be done “I think it is ridiculous that John Deere Case IH and the rest think their shops are the only game in town ” says farmer Danny Kluthe Cambridge Neb “They won’t download software so that anyone else can repair their equipment In the spring and fall when time is so valuable we have to wait for their service person to come out They not only have the exclusive right to charge what they want but we’ll have downtime If we could do diagnostics and discover that the problem is a solenoid or plugged filter we could fix it ourselves ” Kevin Kenney of Grassroots Energy who is an engineer and mechanic in rural Nebraska has been active in the battle to secure the right to repair Legislation introduced there was backed by the Nebraska Farm Bureau but by the time it was introduced the opposition was well entrenched “The equipment dealers and manufacturers outweighed us in lobbying power ” says Kenney “Deere threw $3 million into lobbying against Right to Repair here and elsewhere It was dead before we started ” While the Nebraska legislation went nowhere this year Kenney Kluthe and others in the state vow to keep fighting and they are not alone Legislation has also been introduced in Illinois Iowa Minnesota New York New Jersey Tennessee Massachusetts Kansas North Carolina Missouri and Wyoming “This entire platform of selling digital services is nothing other than monopoly construction ” says Kenney He points out that even students in ag engineering classes are unable to work on diagnostics software “I find it sad that each year we graduate ag engineers unable to work on engine control units ECU for modern combines tractors or implements ” says Kenney Recent reports of “Ukranian” software disks that could be used to hack Deere tractors for diagnostics are temporary fixes at best warns Kenney “All Deere has to do is update its software and the illegal software is worthless ” he says “The newest tractors are 100 percent online so disks won’t work ” Kenney says the only answer is a legislative one that ensures farmers and independent repair shops have the right to access diagnostics If you want to find out more contact The Repair Association at www repair org There you’ll find information on all legislation that has been introduced authors and status Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Grassroots Energy Nebraska Lincoln Neb ph 402 646-0167; Facebook page: Grassroots Energy Nebraska or Danny Kluthe 2464 Cty Rd 17 Dodge Neb 68633 ph 402 693-2833; dannyk558@hotmail com

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