‘Right to repair’ farm equipment pushed in 11 states; makers cite intellectual-property and environmental issues

A combine harvests grain in northeastern Colorado.
(Photo by Danny Wood via Associated Press)

A big thunderstorm blows through, and your electricity goes out. You wait. You can't fix the electricity on your own and some waiting is expected, but do you want to wait three days? Five days? Should the wait cost you thousands of dollars?

That's the bind many American farmers face when their equipment needs repairs, reports Jesse Bedayn of The Associated Press. Bedayn introduces Colorado farmer Danny Wood as an example: "Wood scrambles to plant and harvest proso millet, dryland corn and winter wheat in short, seasonal windows. . . until his high-tech Steiger 370 tractor conks out. . . . The tractor’s manufacturer doesn’t allow Wood to make certain fixes himself, and last spring his fertilizing operations were stalled for three days before the servicer arrived to add a few lines of missing computer code for $950. . . . [this common plight] has pushed lawmakers in Colorado and 10 other states to introduce bills that would force manufacturers to provide the tools, software, parts and manuals needed for farmers to do their own repairs — thereby avoiding steep labor costs and delays that imperil profits." Wood told Bedayn, “That’s where they have us over the barrel, it’s more like we are renting it than buying it." Wood spent $300,000 purchase his used tractor.

"Right to repair" laws have gained traction, "In 2021, the Federal Trade Commission pledged to beef up its right to repair enforcement at the direction of President Joe Biden," Bedayn writes. "And just last year, Rep. Brianna Titone sponsored and passed Colorado’s first right to repair law, empowering people who use wheelchairs with the tools and information to fix them."

But there is the other side: "Manufacturers argue that changing the current practice with this type of legislation would force companies to expose trade secrets. They also say it would make it easier for farmers to tinker with the software and illegally crank up the horsepower and bypass the emissions controller — risking operators’ safety and the environment," Bedayn reports. "Similar arguments around intellectual property have been leveled against the broader campaign called ‘right to repair,’ which has picked up steam across the country."

Bedayn notes, "Rep. Richard Holtorf, the Republican who represents Wood’s district and is a farmer himself, said he’s being pulled between his constituents and the dealerships in his district covering the largely rural northeast corner of the state. He voted against the measure because he believes it will financially impact local dealerships in rural areas and could jeopardize trade secrets. Holtorf told Bedayn, "I do sympathize with my farmers. I don’t think it’s the role of government to be forcing the sale of intellectual property.”

"The bill’s proponents acknowledged that the legislation could make it easier for operators to modify horsepower and emissions controls," Bedayn reports. "But argued that farmers are already able to tinker with their machines and doing so would remain illegal."

'Right to repair' gets strong pushback from tech industries

Photo by Mark Lennihan, The Associated Press

When "Right to repair" legislation passed in Colorado and New York in late 2022, the movement gained traction, but an uphill climb remains: "The tech industry, despite making some concessions, has maintained its furious opposition to the measures, making it difficult for tinkerers and small businesses to get instructions and components," reports Elaine Povich of Stateline. "Given the resistance from industry on broader actions and a last-minute effort last year that weakened the New York law, repair advocates are skeptical that new state laws will make much of a difference."

Movement leaders are trying to build on their limited successes to push right-to-repair legislation in other states. Nathan Proctor, a senior director at the Public Interest Research Group, a left-leaning advocacy group that has been a leader in the movement, told Stateline, "'There’s an inherent momentum in proof of concept when you get across the finish line." Stateline reports, "According to Proctor and other legislative trackers, bills have been introduced, or held over from last year, in 17 states, including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Washington."

Stateline notes: "A Consumer Reports survey conducted in 2021 found that 84% of the U.S. adults polled said they agreed with a policy that would require manufacturers to make repair information and parts available either to independent repairers or to product owners." In response, some manufactures have lessened their grip, "taking some limited steps toward allowing more self-repairs. Apple recently added more desktop Macs to the devices covered by its self-service repair program, for example, while Samsung did the same with certain phones and laptops . . . . but given the resistance from industry, repair advocates say manufacturers are trying to open loopholes."

Many tech-industry coalitions remain opposed to the movement's efforts. Chris Gilrein, Northeastern executive director for TechNet, told Stateline, "We still have concerns with the final legislation [in New York]. At its core, the law remains a state-mandated transfer of intellectual property that is unwarranted at a time when consumers have access to more repair options than ever before. We do not encourage other states to follow New York’s lead."

Elizabeth Chamberlain, director of sustainability at iFixit, an independent technology repair company, told Stateline that while momentum is building, the New York case shows that right to repair advocates need to be vigilant about all the legislation. “We recognize there will be narrowings [of legislation],” she said in a phone interview. “We are going to have to fight on.”

Deere, Farm Bureau sign deal to let farmers fix equipment on their own, discourage legislative action on the issue

A John Deere fully autonomous tractor at last year’s Consumer Electronics
Show (Photo by Patrick T. Fallon, Agence France-Presse via Getty Images)

Deere & Co. and the nation's leading farm lobby have struck a compromise in the battle between farm-equipment manufacturers and farmers. "Deere signed a memorandum of understanding with the American Farm Bureau Federation that the group said ensures farmers can repair their own farm equipment or take it to independent repair shops," reports Patience Haggin of The Wall Street Journal. "The agreement addresses a debate that has grown in recent years, as the farm industry has implemented high-tech equipment like software and sensors in machinery like tractors and harvesters aimed at boosting harvests and speeding planting."

While the understanding appears to address demands from both sides, it discourages further legislative action: "The agreement creates a mechanism to address farmers’ concerns and give them access to resources needed to repair their own equipment," Haggin writes. "It seeks to address the so-called “right-to-repair” issue through the private sector. . . . and discourages the federation’s state organizations from introducing, promoting or supporting such legislation. . . . The federation said the agreement could serve as a model and that it had begun talks with other manufacturers."

Kevin O’Reilly, Right to Repair campaign director at the Public Interest Research Group, a progressive advocacy organization, said the agreement could be difficult to enforce. He told Haggins that lawmakers "should continue pushing right-to-repair legislation until every farmer in every state with every brand of equipment can fix every problem with every tractor."

The conflict has been a circle of frustration for both sides: "Some farmer organizations and consumer advocacy groups have accused Deere and other manufacturers of using proprietary software on their equipment to restrict repair work to the manufacturers’ own dealers. . . . It has increased their costs by forcing them to call in technicians from dealerships for repairs they could handle themselves, if the equipment companies would give them greater access to the software," Haggin writes. "Deere has said it provides tools and repair manuals enabling private repairs, but has pushed back against what it says are attempts by farmers to modify software that controls machinery operations."

Farmers still don't have the right to fix much of their own equipment, but N.Y. 'right to repair' law could show the way

Photo by Liz Hafalia, San Francisco
Chronicle, via Getty Images

New York's Digital Fair Repair Act was signed into law last week, strengthening Americans' ongoing fight with equipment manufacturers from John Deere to Apple. "The law has been heralded as the nation’s first comprehensive 'right to repair' law," reports Austin Jenkins of Pluribus News. "It requires original equipment manufacturers to provide diagnostic and repair information to product owners and to independent repair shops even if they are not preferred or authorized vendors."

The law gives New York consumers, most notably farmers, a solid foothold to demand right-to-repair concessions from manufacturers of original equipment. Repair provisions for farmers have been an ongoing pursuit for the Biden administration, but the proposed Agriculture Right to Repair Act has not passed.

"Proponents quickly touted the new law as a significant victory in an ongoing, multi-state fight to pass right-to-repair laws," Jenkins reports. "TechNet, a tech industry trade group, had a positive response about changes made to the law before it was signed." Those include deletion of a proposal that manufacturers provide “passwords, security codes or materials to override security features” and addition of one allowing manufacturers to provide assembled parts rather than individual components “when the risk of improper installation heightens the risk of injury.”

Kansas state officials hid public information at private firm's request; it's part of a national trend against transparency

The Kansas state government hid large parts of an audit to please a private company. The audit, which cost taxpayers $100,000, "was meant to watchdog about $160 million in prescription drug spending on state employees, though experts say it came nowhere near achieving that, despite its hefty price tag," Celia Llopis-Jepsen reports for KCUR in Kansas City. "Kansas bowed to the auditor’s wishes for secrecy, even though an attorney for the state couldn’t find anything in the report that qualified for protection from public view."

The incident is part of a larger trend: "In Oregon, a city is hiding from a newspaper how much of the region’s precious water Google uses to cool its servers — claiming it’s a Google trade secret. A Utah county refused to show a disability rights center its jail manuals for things such as hygiene and medical care — because the author had copyrighted them," Llopis-Jepsen reports for the NPR affiliate. "Virginia pre-emptively promised Amazon it would redact as much as it could get away with if any citizens asked for public records involving the company — to please the retail behemoth."

State and local governments regularly duck transparency laws by citing private companies' intellectual property rights. "And in the case of Kansas, it effectively outsources the redaction process to private companies that don’t work for the public, that don’t have any legal obligation to follow open records law and that can’t be hauled before a judge for breaking it," Llopis-Jepsen reports.

Frank LoMonte, director of the Brechner Center for Freedom of Information, told Llopis-Jepsen he worries that governments are increasingly allowing businesses control what the public can see: "This is not a Kansas problem. It’s not an Oregon problem . . . It’s an everywhere problem."

Pandemic spurs right-to-repair bills, which could help rural residents, especially farmers with expensive equipment fixes

Americans have relied increasingly on computers and phones for remote work and socializing during the pandemic, but corporate policies have often made it difficult for people to easily access parts, manuals and equipment to repair them, especially in rural areas.

"The resulting frustration has given new impetus to at least 39 so-called right-to-repair bills in 25 states," Elaine S. Povich reports for Stateline. "The legislation would loosen restrictions on manufacturers’ information and parts and allow small repair shops and handy device owners to do their own fixing."

Though the Stateline article focuses mainly on phones and computers, some of the bills are broad enough to cover repairs on tractors and other farming equipment, which has frustrated farmers for years. 

Brand-name product manufacturers and distributors oppose the notion, arguing that unauthorized repairs are unsafe and make machines more vulnerable to hacking, Povich reports. However, right-to-repair laws are popular elsewhere. American Farm Bureau Federation delegates included such laws as part of their 2020 policy goals, and the Democratic party platform also supports such laws.

Farm Bureau ratifies 2020 policy goals, including support for trade bailouts, relaxed THC threshold in hemp, and more

Delegates from the American Farm Bureau Federation, the nation's largest general agriculture organization, ratified the final version of its policy goals for 2020 during its annual convention last week in Austin, Texas. The delegates also re-elected President Zippy Duvall and Vice President Scott VanderWal for their third terms, according to the AFBF website.

Bailout money for farmers hurt by the trade war continues to be a top Farm Bureau priority. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said at the convention that a third tranche of Market Facilitation Program payments for 2019 crops would come soon, but said there will be no trade relief for 2020. "Still, Farm Bureau members voted to keep language in the policy book supportive of MFP payments even with President Donald Trump touting trade wins in China and the congressional approval of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement," Chris Clayton notes for DTN/The Progressive Farmer.

"Our members are basically saying, 'Show us results'," VanderWal told Clayton. Essentially, he said, farmers are waiting for proof that the trade agreement with China will bear fruit, and noted that "no products have moved, implementation hasn’t happened yet, and it’s kind of a 'prove it to me' thing."

The Farm Bureau also wants the Agriculture Department to change the way it determines the pricing structure of fluid milk in the Federal Milk Marketing Order, a system meant to help dairy farmers by setting minimum prices. Dairy farmers have been under increasing financial stress in recent years, and changing the pricing structure would make it more fair, VanderWal told Clayton.

Hemp was another big issue. Farm Bureau members want hemp to be allowed to have up to 1 percent tetrahydrocannabinol, the chemical in cannabis that gives people high. Hemp and marijuana are identical except for THC content; under the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp is limited to 0.3% THC, and must be destroyed at 0.5% THC. Delegates also want to eliminate THC testing for hemp grown for non-consumption purposes, such as grain, fiber, seed, oil or ethanol, Clayton reports.

Farm Bureau delegates also support "right to repair" legislation so farmers can fix equipment less expensively. And they want USDA to permanently move the haying, grazing and chopping date for prevented-planting acres from Nov. 1 to an earlier date. "Following the 2019 crop year that had roughly 20 million prevented-planting acres, farmers had complained that Nov. 1 would be too late to get any value out of haying or grazing a cover crop, so USDA moved the dates to early September last year," Clayton reports.

Farm Bureau also proposed mandatory study, testing and monitoring of synthetic meat analogues, and want to make sure such products don't get any regulatory or administrative edge over naturally grown meat, dairy and other such products. Delegates also support voluntary compliance with Country of Origin Labeling; mandatory compliance would put the U.S. in violation of the new treaty with Canada and Mexico, Clayton reports.

Finally, Clayton notes, delegates also voted to repeal USDA "swampbuster" rules, "which effectively means eliminating wetland delineations on farms that restrict farm-program payments. Farm Bureau wants USDA to better specify wetland designations and streamline the appeals process for producers." The move will likely upset conservationists, but the delegates said farmers are increasingly frustrated with conservation compliance practices within the USDA's Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Many farmers seek old tractors that are more easily repaired than newer models with proprietary computer systems

A 1978 John Deere 4440, one of the most popular models on
the market. (Photo from Mecum Auctions)

New tractors come with a lot of bells and whistles, but many farmers are rejecting them in favor of 40-year-old models.

"Tractors manufactured in the late 1970s and 1980s are some of the hottest items in farm auctions across the Midwest these days — and it’s not because they’re antiques," Adam Belz reports for the StarTribune in Minneapolis. "Cost-conscious farmers are looking for bargains, and tractors from that era are well-built and totally functional, and aren’t as complicated or expensive to repair as more recent models that run on sophisticated software."

Farmers can't easily fix even simple problems with new tractors because the tractors come with proprietary software that requires a dealership to access it. For the past several years, many farmers have been hacking their newer tractors with black-market software so they can make their own repairs. "Tractor hacking is growing increasingly popular because John Deere and other manufacturers have made it impossible to perform 'unauthorized' repair on farm equipment, which farmers see as an attack on their sovereignty and quite possibly an existential threat to their livelihood if their tractor breaks at an inopportune time," Jason Koebler reports for Vice.

The older models can be easily fixed or retrofitted with modern features by a farmer or a local mechanic and can last decades, with proper maintenance. "These things, they’re basically bulletproof. You can put 15,000 hours on it and if something breaks you can just replace it," Greg Peterson told Belz. Peterson is the founder of Machinery Pete, a farm equipment data company with a used farming equipment sales website and TV show.

In the meantime, farmers are pushing for "right-to-repair" laws that would invalidate the licensing agreements Deere and other manufacturers force buyers to sign, Koebler reports. As of March 2019, about 20 states have considered right-to-repair bills.

China lifts ban on U.S. poultry, but trade talks still rocky

Yesterday brought good and bad news about trade talks between the U.S. and China.

The good news: China agreed to lift its ban on imports of U.S. poultry, in return for the U.S. allowing sales of cooked poultry processed in China. Jim Spencer reports for the Star Tribune in Minneapolis, "China ranked as the state's second-largest foreign market for turkeys and its third-largest export market for all poultry before January 2015, when the Chinese banned the purchase of U.S. birds after an outbreak of avian flu."

The bad news: The U.S. and China are having a hard time agreeing on how much China should commit to in terms of buying U.S. agricultural products. President Trump has said that China agreed to buy up to $50 billion of soybeans, pork, and other U.S. farm products, "but China is leery of putting a numerical commitment in the text of an agreement, according to people familiar with the matter," The Wall Street Journal reports. "Beijing wants to avoid cutting a deal that looks more favorable to the U.S. than to China, some of the people said, and also wants to have flexibility within the agreement should trade tensions escalate again. 'We can always stop the purchases if things get worse again,' said one Chinese official." The sides are also far apart on intellectual property issues.

Insiders say China preparing to buy U.S. soybeans again

"In a potentially encouraging sign" for U.S. soybean growers, "China appears to be making early efforts to make good on elements that the White House said were part of the short-term trade bargain Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping reached in Buenos Aires," Ryan McCrimmon reports for Politico.

It's unclear whether or when China will drop its retaliatory tariffs on soybeans, but "Chinese officials have been told to take necessary steps for the purchases, according to two officials with knowledge of the discussions," Bloomberg reports. "It is possible that Beijing could reimburse buyers for the tariffs they pay, as they have done for purchases for the state soybean reserve."

Another positive sign: China announced new punishments for intellectual-property theft, Bloomberg reports. President Trump cited concern over IP theft as one of the main reasons he imposed tariffs.

U.S., China agree to trade-war truce, but Chinese traders say tariffs need to drop before they buy more U.S. goods

At the Group of 20 meeting in Argentina on Saturday, "President Trump agreed to hold off on a plan to raise tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods on Jan. 1, while President Xi Jinping of China agreed to an an unspecified increase in their purchases of American industrial, energy and agricultural products, which Beijing hit with retaliatory tariffs after Mr. Trump targeted everything from steel to consumer electronics," Mark Landler reports for The New York Times. "The two also set the stage for more painstaking negotiations to resolve deeply rooted differences over trade."

That could boost agricultural sales to China if the deal works out in time, helping U.S. farmers who have been hurt by tariffs on soybeans, corn, and other crops. "Trump is now under the gun to force China to make structural changes on long-standing disputes like forced technology transfers and intellectual property theft," Ryan McCrimmon reports for Politico. "The U.S. is seeking resolution on key issues within 90 days, or else Trump is in position to hike tariffs on $200 billion worth of Chinese goods from 10 percent to 25 percent. (That increase was scheduled for January, but Trump agreed to hold off on it — as well as imposing new tariffs on another $267 billion of Chinese products — as part of the short-term deal.)"

Since tariffs on crops like soybeans are still in place, Chinese traders are waiting for action on tariffs to return to U.S. markets, Halli Gu and Dominique Patton report for Reuters: "No substantial purchases can happen with a 25 percent duty still in place on U.S. soybeans, corn, sorghum and wheat, said buyers and analysts."

Xi also agreed to designate fentanyl as a controlled substance and to crack down on illicit shipments of the deadly opioid, Landler reports.

Judge allows Tenn. town to change its name a second time, to Rocky Top, at developer's behest

A federal judge has declined to issue an injunction preventing the Tennessee town of Lake City from changing its name to Rocky Top to take advantage of the strong identity of the Bluegrass tune that is the fight song of the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.

Google map: Lake City is pinned, Rocky Top is starred

The city council voted yesterday to start the process of changing the name, after U.S. District Judge Thomas Varlan ruled against House of Bryant, the music publishing company founded by the late Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, who wrote the song in the Great Smoky Mountains town of Gatlinburg in 1967. Lake City, population 1,800, lies between the Cumberland Mountains and the westernmost arm of Norris Lake, the first Tennessee Valley Authority project. The town was called Coal Creek before the lake was impounded in the mid-1930s.

The state legislature and Gov. Bill Haslam have already enacted a law allowing the change, which is being sought by a developer. "Rocky Top Tennessee Marketing and Manufacturing Co. . . . has proposed a development that could be worth up to $450 million over six years and include an indoor and outdoor water park, coal miners’ theater, children’s museum, train rides, restaurant, and a candy company on some 300 acres near two exits off Interstate 75," reports John Huotari of Oak Ridge Today. "Officials have said it could bring 200 new jobs to Lake City and generate another $6 million in sales tax per year. But the project hinges on the name change."

The music publishing firm filed suit in March, saying the name change “is an attempt to unfairly exploit the fame and goodwill of House of Bryant’s intellectual property.” The suit also alleges trademark infringement, false advertising, unlawful taking, deceptive trade practices and unfair competition. "Varlan ruled that Lake City likely would not infringe on House of Bryant's copyright because the town does not intend to use the name for commercial purposes," reports Travis Loller of The Associated Press. "Varlan also denied a request to put the brakes on the developers' plans, saying it was too early to issue an injunction on proposals that may never come to fruition."

House of Bryant contends that the name change would open the door to commercial exploitation of the name because it would make Rocky Top "merely a geographic reference," Loller reports. The suit says the song refers to "a fictional or idyllic place," though a peak in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park bears the name.