Colorado becomes first state to pass 'right to repair' law for farmers; several other states are considering similar bills

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In July 2021, President Biden issued an executive order supporting farmers' rights to repair their tractors. Twenty-one months later, one state has passed right-to-repair legislation for farmers.

"Colorado farmers will be able to legally fix their own equipment next year, with manufacturers, including Deere & Co. and CNH Industrial, obliged to provide them with manuals for diagnostic software and other aids, under a measure passed by legislators in the first U.S. state to approve such a law," reports Bianca Flowers of Reuters. "The Consumer Right to Repair Agriculture Equipment Act garnered bipartisan support as farmers grew increasingly frustrated with costly repairs and inflated input prices denting their profits."

The new law means that farmers or independent technicians can use manufacture's tools to repair equipment such as combines and tractors without waiting for an "authorized dealer representative," Flowers reports. A Deere spokesperson said the company supports "right to repair" but thinks the law will have unintended consequences. "Equipment makers worry the legislation may allow farmers to override certain safety systems or emissions controls, said Eric Wareham, a North American Equipment Dealers Association vice president."

The bill passed after "lawmakers amended the bill to include language that farmers and repair shops will not be authorized 'to make modifications' to functions related to security or emissions," Flowers notes. "Rep. Brianna Titone, a Democrat who sponsored the legislation, predicted other states will follow suit." She told Flowers, "If there are no lawsuits or collapse of the industry, it demonstrates that the law is not going to cause chaos like many opponents think it will." Titone sponsored and passed Colorado's first right to repair law, which gave wheelchair owners the right to access tools and technology to fix their own chairs.

Deere and CNH tried to head off such laws applying to farmers with a memorandum of understanding with the American Farm Bureau Federation that allows farmers to fix their equipment or go to a third party, notes Leland Glenna, writing in The Conversation, a platform for journalism by academics: "At its most basic level, right-to-repair legislation seeks to protect the end users of a product from anti-competitive activities by large companies. New York passed the first broad right-to-repair law in 2022, and nearly two dozen states have active legislation – about half of them targeting farm equipment."

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."