Farming has been quintessential to America’s economy ever since 1776. Throughout history the American government has legitimized the aforementioned sentiment via different forms of legislation. For example, when the Great Depression hit Franklin Roosevelt decided that full economic recovery depended on enfranchising the agricultural sector. His New Deal through the Agricultural Adjustment Act created the AAA ( Agricultural Adjustment Administration) which is still active to this day. These measures not only helped local farmers, but also farming manufactures who would’ve surely gone under. An example being John Deere. However, thanks to some help John Deere & small farmers were able to recover, & develop a symbiotic relationship. Farmers could farm with the best equipment because John Deere (due to government assistance) decided not to repossess any tractors that weren’t paid off . An admirable gesture in trying times. However, despite John Deere’s role in making farmers lives easier via new farming technology & charitable business practices, a new trend seems to negate their storied history.
Farmers in the modern era are facing trying times. The reason for that is farmers can no longer independently fix their tractors that have malfunctioned. That’s because in order to fix modern tractors you need diagnostic software to figure out the problem. You might be asking yourself “Why don’t farmers just get the software”? Well, it turns out John Deere doesn’t allow the software to be purchased in the first place. That fact forces farmers to either pay a John Deere dealer to fix it (often times they are really far away & it’s expensive), or buy totally new equipment from John Deere, effectively wasting the farmers precious time & resources. Prior to this new trend you could purchase a diagnostic manual & fix tractors with little to no ease. Which is what most farmers did. Yet, if the farmer for some reason couldn’t, they’d take it to a tractor mechanic & he’d figure it out. This is now impossible due to John Deere’s reluctance to provide that software. A small percentage of farmers have even gone to great extents to purchase hacked software from Eastern European nations to curtail this dilemma. But farmers shouldn’t be forced to do shady black market deals to fix their property. Thankfully, some motivated people are fighting for the rights of farmers to access the diagnostics of their tractors. But there are still huge road blocks in their way.
The Library of Congress has granted an exemption for farmers from the DMCA Act (which protects corporations from online piracy) in order to shield them from legal repercussion if they were caught. However, immediately after that was implemented John Deere adjusted their terms of service to negate that ruling. A move you’d expect from El Chapo or Pablo Escobar. Despite that hurdle, motivated activists like Guy Mills & Lydia Brasch advocate for the freedom to purchase diagnostic tools. Lydia Brasch, a senator form Nebraska, has proposed the Fair Repair Act in order to help Farmers obtain the tools for repair. At that hearing in Lincoln, Nebraska lobbyists from Apple, Microsoft, & AT&T convened to violently oppose the Act. A rare thing in Nebraskan politics. Why would they show up? Simple, that legislation would set a precedent in the tech field because it would limit the tech firm monopoly over diagnostic info. Nebraska isn’t alone in trying to combat this problem. 12 states have recently proposed similar legislation.
In conclusion, information about fixing your property should be open to the public. That’s because this issue is similar to this scenario. Hypothetically lets say a specific hospital owned the rights to open heart surgery, & refused to give it out to other doctors. People would run riot. There’s no difference from that hypothetical scenario to the things John Deere is doing now.
Is John Deere a bad company? Of course not. But they should be a bit more active in trying to help these farmers instead of them being solely concerned with their own interests? Of course, and as Americans we should hold overly abusive corporations accountable for their actions . Remember, agricultural manufacturers & farmers should have a symbiotic relationship not a parasitic one.
Sermo Civilis 