As farmers fight for the right to repair their tractors, an antitrust movement gains steam

“When we started out, we didn’t realize how connected all these issues were,” says Gay Gordon-Byrne, executive director of Repair.org, an organization that advocates for legislation protecting consumers’ right to repair. “Then people started talking to us and we realized that what’s happening with nice Rolex watches is the same thing happening with welding repair equipment, which is the same thing happening with tractors.”

It’s a problem relatively unique to the digital age: Consumer goods that once were semi-repairable with a manual and a set of tools now come stocked with proprietary digital software. This specific issue first started popping up in the early 1990s, after cars were mandated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to contain emissions-related software; many auto mechanics were ill-equipped to deal with computer glitches, or had to upgrade their digital equipment at significant expense. “Car companies saw an opportunity to increase their control of the marketplace. Suddenly mechanics were highly constrained,” says Gordon-Byrne.

But in today’s agribusiness marketplace, it’s not just complex software that keeps farmers from fixing their own machines. Some brands of equipment allow repairs only by official manufacturer outlets, or mandate the use of proprietary software to evaluate a machine’s issues. Then there’s the fact that many manufacturers don’t sell parts or manuals that could assist in DIY repairs—while unauthorized tinkering can void a warranty (though plenty of folks do it anyway). Keep in mind that new John Deere tractors can run upwards of $300,000— “Farmers can’t just replace a tractor whenever something breaks,” says Gordon-Byrne.

But farm advocates have found unlikely allies in other tech-reliant consumer sectors, leading to legislation like Nebraska’s now-stalled “Fair Repair” bill, LB67. When the bill was first up for debate in 2017, The Guardian reported a case of strange bedfellows: Farmers were teaming up with electronic repair shops (the kind that fix laptops and smartphones) to advance the cause.

Guy Mills, Jr., a Nebraska farmer with 4,400 acres of soybeans, corn, and alfalfa, worked hard to ensure that LB67 would pass, writing op-eds and conducting other advocacy work. According to Mills, John Deere’s lawyers got in the way. “These huge companies pumped in millions of dollars to defeat this,” he says. John Deere has sent a version of this letter to all the state legislatures considering right to repair legislation.

Nebraska was the first state to consider farm-specific right to repair legislation, but at least 22 others have since advanced similar bills. Mills says these states are facing similar struggles against corporate pushback and lobbying. “It’s got the feeling of a big-guy-versus-the-little-struggling-farmer situation,” he says.

Still, Gordon-Byrne says the movement has momentum, and is feeling upbeat about the months ahead. She notes that right to repair has the support of the American Farm Bureau Federation and the National Farmers Union. “I’m excited that so many states are considering these laws,” she says, “and the public awareness of this issue is unprecedented.”

Warren’s agriculture proposal certainly will give the issue an even bigger spotlight. Warren hails from Massachusetts, where a car-specific right-to-repair law passed in 2012; she’s also a known consumer advocate.

While Mills says he is “not the biggest Warren fan,” he concedes her proposal could prove popular to farmers. “I think she’s really onto something,” he says.