EPA clarification helps farmers secure the right to repair their own equipment

The EPA issued guidance that the Clean Air Act does not interfere with 
farmers’ right to repair equipment. (Photo by Lance Cheung, USDA)

After years of battling for the right to repair their own equipment, American farmers gleaned a victory from the Environmental Protection Agency.

As of Monday, the agency "notified manufacturers that the Clean Air Act does not prohibit independent repairs to off-road diesel equipment such as farm machinery," reports Cami Koons of the Iowa Capital Dispatch. "A news release from EPA said manufacturers 'can no longer' use the act to 'justify limiting access to repair tools or software.'"

The EPA news release outlined how equipment manufacturers have consistently used the Clean Air Act to force farmers to wait for company-certified techs, pay for repairs they could have done themselves, or work with older, less sophisticated equipment.

Farm machinery manufacturer John Deere "has been central to the right-to-repair issue," Koons explains. The company had used the Clean Air Act to restrict farmers from tampering with emission control systems, insisting that its machinery used "sophisticated technology that could only be [legally] worked on by John Deere technicians."

Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said that EPA's clarification is "expected to save farmers thousands in unnecessary repairs . . . .We are reaffirming the lawful right of American farmers and equipment owners to repair their farm equipment.”

During his January visit to Iowa, President Donald Trump said he planned to remove some emission requirements for tractors, Koons reports. In a speech to a crowd of Iowans, Trump said, "We’re going to get the tractors back where you don’t have to be a Ph.D. in order to start your tractor, in order to keep the environment clean."