Earlier this year, John Deere signed a memorandum of understanding with the American Farm Bureau Federation, promising to share tools and software with farmers so they could more easily repair their tractors and combines without the help of a company-authorized technician.
The memorandum of understanding with the country鈥檚 largest farm equipment maker isn鈥檛 legally binding or enforceable though.
Now, more than a dozen states are discussing legislation about the 鈥榬ight to repair.鈥�
Colorado and New York have already passed laws guaranteeing that right, but advocates for Ohio farmers say agricultural corporations hold so much power that a similar law is unlikely to come to fruition here.
They say that鈥檚 not only frustrating for Ohio鈥檚 farmers, but costly.
What is the 鈥榬ight to repair鈥� and why do farmers want it?
Modern farm equipment is high-tech and expensive.
Today鈥檚 tractors and combines, equipped with advanced computers, GPS trackers and temperature and moisture sensors, can easily cost upwards of $400,000.
When that equipment breaks down, farmers need repairs quickly.
鈥淎griculture has to happen within a few fairly modest, limited windows of weather and crop maturity,鈥� said Joe Logan, president of the Ohio Farmers Union. 鈥淪o when things are right, farmers need to be moving. They can't afford to have that half-a-million-dollar investment sitting in the middle of a field as inert as the ground upon which it works.鈥�
But as equipment becomes more sophisticated, farmers increasingly are not able to make repairs on their own. Instead, they have to wait for company-authorized dealers who control access to manuals, diagnostics and parts.
Waiting for company-authorized repairmen can take days. And as agriculture equipment providers consolidate, those wait times are stretching even longer.
鈥淭hat farmer may have to wear out his patience before he can wear out his combine.鈥�Joe Logan, President of the Ohio Farmers Union
鈥淭here used to be dealers up and down the road, four or five of them that we could get to within half an hour,鈥� Logan said. 鈥淣ow, there may be one or two.鈥�
Those remaining dealers serve more customers across larger areas.
鈥淪o when a farmer breaks down, he may be the sixth or seventh in line,鈥� Logan said. 鈥淭hat farmer may have to wear out his patience before he can wear out his combine.鈥�
The memorandum of understanding
Farmers want the 鈥榬ight to repair鈥� so they can bypass that line and fix their own equipment, limiting the amount of time wasted during busy planting and harvest seasons.
The between John Deere and the American Farm Bureau Federation seems to be a step toward achieving that goal.
鈥淲e look forward to working alongside the American Farm Bureau and our customers in the months and years ahead to ensure farmers continue to have the tools and resources to diagnose, maintain and repair their equipment,鈥� said David Gilmore, John Deere鈥檚 Senior Vice President of Ag & Turf Sales & Marketing,
But the MOU only goes so far.
Because the agreement isn鈥檛 legally binding, it has no means of enforcement.
鈥淧erhaps its intentions were noble,鈥� Logan says, 鈥渂ut, unfortunately, it included no language, no teeth to make sure that John Deere or any other equipment manufacturer would have to abide by this.鈥�
On top of that, the MOU also stipulates that the American Farm Bureau Federation cannot introduce, promote or support 鈥榬ight to repair鈥� legislation on either the federal or state level.
Logan says without the bureau鈥檚 backing, passing meaningful 鈥榬ight to repair鈥� laws will be challenging.
鈥淭hat made us suspicious,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd when we started looking at it more closely, frankly, we feel that it's not the solution to America's technology problem on the farm.鈥�
鈥楻ight to repair鈥� legislation
Ohio is one of 20 states with on the docket in early 2023.
But in Ohio, although this legislation applies to some digital electronic equipment, motor vehicles are excluded.
鈥淲ith regard to agricultural equipment, this goes nowhere in terms of improving our right to repair,鈥� Logan said. 鈥淎nd it once again illustrates the incredible power of the corporations to make things happen.鈥�
Manufacturers, however, say the software and tools they use to build and repair high-tech equipment are intellectual property.
They also argue giving farmers too many tools would allow them to modify their equipment to the extent that it could no longer comply with safety and environmental standards.
Corporate power in agriculture
While there are about two million farmers in the U.S., most buy inputs like equipment and seeds from a very small number of companies. That concentration of corporate agricultural power has farmers like Logan worried.
鈥淲hen you get down to that small cartel of global corporations supplying everything that we need, competition really doesn't exist. Market power dominates.鈥�Joe Logan, President of the Ohio Farmers Union
John Deere dominates sales for large farm tractors and combines 鈥� And just four firms control .
Logan says buyers of agriculture products have consolidated as well.
鈥淲e're selling into a market that consists of only two or three or four markets globally too,鈥� he said. 鈥淎n individual buyer can put a great deal of pressure on an individual farmer. And so farmers are squeezed on both ends, both on the things we buy and the things we sell, because of the excessive consolidation that's going on in agriculture.鈥�
He says the free enterprise system has served American farmers well for centuries. But as technology advances, individual farmers have less and less control over their fields.
鈥淲hen you get down to that small cartel of global corporations supplying everything that we need, competition really doesn't exist,鈥� Logan says. 鈥淢arket power dominates.鈥�