With crop prices projected to be disappointing for the near future, ag operations are going to feel maneuvers come at them from all sides. Just like the downsizing of food packing to sell you less for more, look for the industry to find ways to make sure your dollar stays in their pocket.
If you can’t sell iron , you can always make money fixing the iron you already sold. John Deere continues to litigate regarding its right to repair with the government, despite making peace with the large farm advocacy group Farm Bureau over the issue. John Deere has continued to skirt its agreements it made with AFB regarding its position on making the information available to end users of equipment to allow them to repair outside of John Deere Dealerships. (In that agreement, John Deere got American Farm Bureau to side line lobby efforts in favor of a law requiring right to repair materials be made available. Minnesota and California have expressly exempted ag from following right to repair laws (so the McDonald’s ice cream machine you can fix, but the new combine, no that a no from Uncle John)). Colorado is the only state where laws say you have a right to fix your own equipment in the ag space.
Part of the issue is timing, all farm operators know time is critical in effective operations. The number of John Deere dealers has dropped from 3,400 in 1996 to 2,984 in 2007. In 2021, that number is at 1,544. Less dealers, less techs, more down time and charges for travel.
Most recently an FTC investigation was launched into whether or not the withholding of information regarding certain repair issues from customers violate consumer protection laws. Farm operator complain that many repairs are required to be made at authorized dealerships at a high service charge rate for things that if they were provided the information to intelligently make those repairs.
In one suit, a farmer noted a stop engine light triggered on his tractor. The light required a factory tech to resolve. The resolution was ECU diagnostic machine, pulled the cap off of an emission sensor, dried it out, and put it back on in 2.5 minutes and $615 of the farm operators cash it was all better. Of note, this case was dismissed by the complaining farmer.
The stance of the jolly green giant ag manufacturer may run afoul of the clean air act as well which requires written instructions for repairs to be performed by any repair establishment or individual and maybe the Sherman act against anti trust.
This isn’t just about who get paid to wrench on the combine. It is a property rights issue. To paraphrase the field of dreams, if you build it, you can charge. If you can’t capitalize on your ideas, they aren’t worth vomiting out on to the paper and implementing them. Conversely, making technology so inaccessible and creating barriers to repair and maintenance is also detrimental to new developments and idea. Unfortunately, the golden rule applies, those who have the gold buy the politicians and lobbyists and make the rules to benefit themselves, not the society at large.
