Farmers Are Having to Hack Their Own Tractors Just to Make Repairs
28th June 2021
Usually the word “hacking” implies breaking into someone else’s data, but farmers are having to hack their own farm equipment just to keep it running, reports Freethink. Companies like John Deere won’t license out the software necessary to diagnose and fix their increasingly complex farm equipment, forcing owners to source that software online.
The fight over “right to repair” doesn’t just extend to totaled Teslas—it affects what makes it onto your dinner table, too. Crops won’t schedule themselves around a 40-mile repair trip to a specific company’s dealership. Mother Nature does not care about John Deere’s terms of service. Farmers say that they need to be able to repair their own ag equipment on their own terms—either themselves or through independent mechanics—as they have always done.