Hand Me That Wrench: Farmers And Apple Fight Over The Toolbox

LIKE ANY FARMER, GUY MILLS JR. HAS HAD HIS SHARE OF equipment trouble. In the past, Mills, who grows corn, soybean and alfalfa on his 3,810-acre farm in Ansley, Neb., would have fixed his machinery himself. But like so many essential tools, Mills’ equipment has become so technologically complex that he needs outside help when it breaks down. Unfortunately for him, that help can eat up time and money, both of which have been in short supply.

- Alex Fitzpatrick

“If you have a bad alternator, they connect a computer to your tractor and it tells them the alternator is bad,” says Mills, 57. “Before, there were other signs. Is the battery dead? Do you have lights? Just by looking at it and using deductive reasoning, you figured things out.”

Mills and his fellow farmers say that part of the problem is that equipment manufacturers like Deere & Co., maker of John Deere tractors, make it difficult for consumers and independent repair shops to get the tools needed to fix today’s high-tech tractors and other heavy machinery, which run on copyright protected software. Instead, customers must often work with company-approved technicians, who can be farflung and charge expensive rates. So Mills and other farmers nationwide have banded together in support of the so-called Right to Repair legislation. These bills, which have been proposed in at least 12 states, would require equipment manufacturers to offer the diagnostic tools, manuals and other supplies that farmers need to fix their own machines. “Customers, dealers and manufacturers should work together on the issue rather than invite government regulation that could add costs with no associated value,” said Ken Golden, a spokesperson for Deere & Co.