Right-to-Repair Deal
Draws Ire from Tech

Leaders of the Far West Equipment Dealers Association (FWEDA) and the California Farm Bureau Federation (CFBF) recently signed a right-to-repair agreement that commits dealers to providing access to service manuals, product guides, on-board diagnostics and other information that would help a farmer or rancher identify problems and repair machinery.

Source code for proprietary software is restricted in the agreement, as is the ability to change equipment in ways that affect compliance with safety or emissions regulations. FWEDA and CFBF lauded the agreement.

“Reliable farm equipment is crucial to the success of any farming operation, and farmers have long depended on their ability to make repairs quickly in order to keep their equipment running during harvest and other key times,” CFBF President Jamie Johansson said. “This agreement gives farmers the information they need to do just that, even as equipment has become increasingly complex.”

The tech publication Wired, however, called it a “swindle” by Deere.

“As anyone who repairs electronics knows, keeping a device in working order often means fixing both its hardware and software,” a commentary from Wired said. “But a big California farmers’ lobbying group just blithely signed away farmers’ right to access or modify the source code of any farm equipment software. As an organization representing 2.5 million California agriculture jobs, the California Farm Bureau gave up the right to purchase repair parts without going through a dealer. Farmers can’t change engine settings, can’t retrofit old equipment with new features, and can’t modify their tractors to meet new environmental standards on their own. Worse, the lobbyists are calling it a victory.”

Sources: Farm Equipment, Wired