Article

2021-07-07 Economy

Biden says farmers will be allowed to repair their own tractors and will be able to better negotiate sales of their cows, chickens and hogs in new rules tackling major agribusiness

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Posted by Skidmark 2021-07-07 00:00|| E-Mail|| Front Page|| [1790 views ] Top

1 The "right to repair" thing is a big deal, and I'm surprised oligarch Joe is backing it. For that reason, I expect it's just eyewash.

Posted by M. Murcek 2021-07-07 00:33|| 2021-07-07 00:33|| Front Page Top

2 Ok, me rant. Most embedded software in products you buy today is mediocre but benign. The software in my “smart” TV is useless and pathetic, but it can’t actually take over my house or my life. At the moment. But say I buy a $250,000.00 tractor. The software on board that thing nowadays is basically ransomeware, requiring me to surrender my expensive purchase to the dealer on its schedule, not mine. Even the dealer is not really in charge of the thing, he’s liable to tell me my stupidly expensive machine will not be available when I need it because the update it needs is not available to him or me. Of course, hot rodders have been burning custom EPROMS for their cars for years now, but if someone did that for my tractor, the manufacturer would sue everyone in sight. All this pain is part of the same set of laws that let all the social media giants stomp on your and my free speech rights. The answer, of course, is to make it your right to fix problems with the software as you see fit. Be it your tractor or your social media account. Zuck and Microdose Jack don’t want that. All the more reason you should.

Posted by M. Murcek 2021-07-07 00:47|| 2021-07-07 00:47|| Front Page Top

3 I'm surprised oligarch Joe is backing it. For that reason, I expect it's just eyewash.

I'm surprised too. Right to Repair is huge. Hard to believe Sleepy Joe is going against the corporations.

Posted by SteveS 2021-07-07 00:52|| 2021-07-07 00:52|| Front Page Top

4 went off script

Posted by Chris 2021-07-07 01:01|| 2021-07-07 01:01|| Front Page Top

5 Those corporations must not be major donors to the Democrats.

Posted by Greresing Gluger6543 2021-07-07 02:35|| 2021-07-07 02:35|| Front Page Top

6 The John Deere company and others have (like most of the auto industry) worked diligently to make their tractors beyond the capability of the farmer to work on and repair. This is done through the introduction of electronics and computers which shut down entire systems, creating a costly 'tow to the dealer' or call for the dealership to dispatch a repairman to make the necessary repairs.

Posted by Besoeker 2021-07-07 02:45|| 2021-07-07 02:45|| Front Page Top

7 That's why the old fords and many others are still running. This new equipment is for major corporate agribusiness. Large operations mainly(Gates). Give me a four horse team any day. So many problems with this new technology. Break down and $1000 dollars to travel to dealer. Then the repair costs and updates on software($5,000) are outrageous. Windows 7,10,11 on and on it goes.

Posted by Dale 2021-07-07 07:08|| 2021-07-07 07:08|| Front Page Top

8 Let's be blunt. Whoever is actually running the whiteless house is trying to starve us. I personally hate large corp farms. For such a critical part of our lives, they should not exist. Nor should the big ag usage of hard inorganic chemicals.

We studied Iowas Karth system in the 1980's and found 70% of all the groundwater was contaminated by inorganic nitrates. And small farms were as much at fault.

That being said, this is about controlling our frickig food supply! Not being able to repair our machines? My family farms would shoot the first bastard that tried to pull this shit.

Dale has a great point. Newer CPU tractors have major repair problems with no redundancy as system backups. Therein lies a huge problem.

Fords? Honestly the only old dependable tractors are the Farmalls, International Harvesters and John Deeres. Old Fords with their fenders still mounted securely are a rarity.

The first tractor I drove, worked at 8 years old alone was a Farmall B. I know this shit. And farmers are armed Mr. Demental.

Posted by Woodrow 2021-07-07 08:08|| 2021-07-07 08:08|| Front Page Top

9 If you buy vegetable seeds or plants from, say, Bonnie Plants or any other large supplier and save some of the seeds from your harvest to plant next season they most likely will not produce. They have been engineered to produce one or at most two seasons of crops.

Posted by Deacon Blues 2021-07-07 08:15|| 2021-07-07 08:15|| Front Page Top

10 ^An unfertilized egg won't grow into a chicken.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2021-07-07 08:31|| 2021-07-07 08:31|| Front Page Top

11 #8 Excellent!. In my area Fords (Blue color) are still running as well as many others, Farmall, Case, Alis Chalmers($4800. 1948), Deere, Massey and so on. 1941 Ford used now selling for $2500 listed. 150 years of farming history. Same with older pre-computer vehicles. Mechanics can fix those pieces of equipment. Far fewer problems.

Posted by Dale 2021-07-07 10:11|| 2021-07-07 10:11|| Front Page Top

12 You can strip the electronics out of any interal combustion vehicle. You just have to know what you are doing.

Posted by M. Murcek 2021-07-07 10:49|| 2021-07-07 10:49|| Front Page Top

13 They could probably just tweak the first sale doctrine to permit like for like replacements by customers, and the development, transfer and sale by suppliers. Interesting question - can a replacement improve on the original? Remove DRM?

Posted by Angstrom 2021-07-07 12:18|| 2021-07-07 12:18|| Front Page Top

14 I always thought the Amish might be onto something.

Posted by Abu Uluque 2021-07-07 12:24|| 2021-07-07 12:24|| Front Page Top

15 I'm sure the FTC will get right on those regulations. Expect the comment period to open sometime in mid 2024, close sometime after the next election, and then the whole matter to be tabled for "further study".

Posted by Rob Crawford 2021-07-07 19:25|| 2021-07-07 19:25|| Front Page Top