Colorado is the first US state to pass a right-to-repair law for farmers

[Alfonso Maruccia]

What just happened? The right to repair movement just got its first major win in Colorado as the state will likely become the first to establish a law designed to protect the farmers' right to repair their own equipment. Big manufacturing companies are not happy, but the law is expected to be signed soon.

Starting January 1, 2024, manufacturers of agricultural equipment will have to provide Colorado farmers everything they need to repair machinery by themselves. Denver legislators recently approved the first-ever proposal turning right-to-repair principles into law with a majority vote (44 to 16), after the same law was approved by the Senate last month.

The bill is now on the governor's desk, where Jared Polis is expected to approve the bi-partisan proposal within 10 days. The Consumer Right To Repair Agricultural Equipment requires manufacturers to provide parts, embedded software, firmware, tools, documentation, repair manuals and other resources to independent repair providers and owners of farming machinery, giving them the ability to fix broken stuff without needing to go through official resellers and repair services.

The bill folds agricultural equipment into the existing consumer right-to-repair statutes of Colorado, which states that a manufacturer's failure to comply is a "deceptive trade practice." Manufacturers are not obliged to "divulge any trade secrets" to independent repair services and owners, the statutes say. The bill was later amended to clarify that repair providers and owners are not authorized to make modifications to equipment that permanently deactivate safety measures or modify carbon emissions.

John Deere, the largest agriculture machinery company in the world, said the new Colorado legislation is "unnecessary" and will carry "unintended consequences." The company is one of the most serious offenders when it comes to denying repair rights and open source license violations, though it recently entered into an agreement with the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) to make some concessions to the right-to-repair movement.

Colorado legislators determined that the AFBF agreement was vague, incomplete, and unenforceable, so they decided to turn the growing consensus for the right-to-repair movement into a law. This way, farmers would have some actual guarantees against John Deere and other big manufacturers' business policies.

Brianna Titone, a Democrat Colorado Representative who sponsored the bill, said other states will soon approve similar right-to-repair laws in favor of farmers and independent repair services. "If there are no lawsuits or collapse of the industry," Titone said, the public will understand that "the law is not going to cause chaos" like its opponents (meaning John Deere & co.) are saying.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/98315-colorado-first-us-state-pass-right-repair-law.html

 

[passwordistaco]

Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.

 

[psycros]

A victory for common sense. Every one of them should be celebrated.

 

[RudyBob]

In the 70's Caterpillar came out with a half hour video called Three Finger Joe or something like that. It illustrated in graphic detail injuries that could and do happen when you ignore or are unaware of proper safety. I am all for guys being able to repair their junk but I tell you now there are going to be a lot more "Three Finger Joe's".

 

[passwordistaco]

In the 70's Caterpillar came out with a half hour video called Three Finger Joe or something like that. It illustrated in graphic detail injuries that could and do happen when you ignore or are unaware of proper safety. I am all for guys being able to repair their junk but I tell you now there are going to be a lot more "Three Finger Joe's".

Chances are, the people that want to repair their John Deere equipment have been doing their own maintenance and observing safety precautions for a while. Farm machinery will take your limbs off even when it's working as intended.

 

[yRaz]

In the 70's Caterpillar came out with a half hour video called Three Finger Joe or something like that. It illustrated in graphic detail injuries that could and do happen when you ignore or are unaware of proper safety. I am all for guys being able to repair their junk but I tell you now there are going to be a lot more "Three Finger Joe's".

Maybe you should watch that movie, it's some comedy gold. As someone who works around tons of machinery I have seen all manner of safety video. The caterpillar video wasn't a warning, it was suppose to be entertaining because people HATE watching safety videos. If I have to tell you, "don't stand on bulldozer treds while they're moving" then Darwin is calling your name.

And keep in mind, John Deere very rarely said it was unsafe for people to repair this equipment. Their main arguement was "source code, source code, source code! We need to protect our intellectual property". After screaming about that, it was discovered that all John Deere equipment runs on a modified Linux distro. This is legal todo, but part of the GPL(General Public license) is that they have to make all modifications to the software opensource. So now, John Deere is facing lawsuits for software piracy. Considering how many millions they could lose from this lawsuit, the fact they are doubling down on not making all of their software opensource REALLY shows their motivations.

I'd also like to point out that being able to maintain and repair your own equipment is part of a farmers jobs. These people work in remote areas hours away from cities or towns. During harvest you have a small window to maximize yield and waiting a day or two for a repair technician to come out could cost hundreds of thousands of dollar. Farmers are not dumb people who walk around with straw hats. Being a field repair technician is part of the job and has been since the industrialization of farm.

 

[RudyBob]

Chances are, the people that want to repair their John Deere equipment have been doing their own maintenance and observing safety precautions for a while. Farm machinery will take your limbs off even when it's working as intended.

My wife's family are potato farmers. My bro-in-law told me early on if ya can't fix it yourself you are in deep doo doo

 

[RudyBob]

Maybe you should watch that movie, it's some comedy gold. As someone who works around tons of machinery I have seen all manner of safety video. The caterpillar video wasn't a warning, it was suppose to be entertaining because people HATE watching safety videos.

Wrong. I suggest you hire someone

 

[yRaz]

Wrong. I suggest you hire someone

I'll let people decide for themselves. They still show the classic safety videos on jobs today because they're legitimately entertaining. And props to CAT for knowing they'll actually get people to pay attention by doing that.

Also, to anyone who watches that video, the comments section is gold.

 

[Srksi]

"unintended consequences"
What "unintended consequences"? People will actually get to use things they payed for?? Those B*stards!

 

[m4a4]

The only "unintended consequences" that will happen are those that John Deere throws a tantrum over in retaliation. And I hope people hold them responsible and fine them when they try to pin their tantrums on right-to-repair.

 

[GeforcerFX]

Alright, now nationwide, and then target the tech sector with target number one being apple. Make them actually live up to all there "the most eco conscious company BS".

 

[shark975]

Why dont we get right to repair for home plumbing, electrical etc? thats all a monopoly scam but tech blogs never talk about it like they do "right to repair" electricians plumbers etc set up overly strict licensing requirements by lobbying state legislatures, to reduce the supply of electricians plumbers hvac etc, in many cases make homeowners doing the work illegal, then profit with highly reduced supply.

 

[corvard]

This will make equipment for small farms possibly too expensive.

 

[yRaz]

Why dont we get right to repair for home plumbing, electrical etc? thats all a monopoly scam but tech blogs never talk about it like they do "right to repair" electricians plumbers etc set up overly strict licensing requirements by lobbying state legislatures, to reduce the supply of electricians plumbers hvac etc, in many cases make homeowners doing the work illegal, then profit with highly reduced supply.

You are allowed to do you own plumbing and electrical repair. In plumbing, everything from the shutoff valve to the sewer line is yours. In electrical, you're allowed on anything coming from the electrical box although I highly recommend you don't. The only part of your homes electrical system that you own that you aren't allowed to touch is between the meter and your homes electrical box. Everything from the meter to the street is the property of the electric companies. If you have something like an addition put onto your property, in many states the plans have to be approved and before you're allowed to turn the electric on it has to be signed off by a licensed electrician but you can still do all the work yourself

There are instances of things like rental properties being required to be worked on by licensed plumbers and electricians but I hope the reason for that is obvious. You can't have scum landlords hotwiring lamp cable from the box to a light switch to save money

 

[schinbone]

In the 70's Caterpillar came out with a half hour video called Three Finger Joe or something like that. It illustrated in graphic detail injuries that could and do happen when you ignore or are unaware of proper safety. I am all for guys being able to repair their junk but I tell you now there are going to be a lot more "Three Finger Joe's".

In the 70's Caterpillar came out with a half hour video called Three Finger Joe or something like that. It illustrated in graphic detail injuries that could and do happen when you ignore or are unaware of proper safety. I am all for guys being able to repair their junk but I tell you now there are going to be a lot more "Three Finger Joe's".

The idea that you would have to hire a truck and pay them to haul your tractor nearly 100 miles to a dealer( in some cases more), then wait to get it fixed during harvest, is one of the most un-American things I can think of. People should have the right to repair anything they can purchase.

These men and women can handle these jobs without loosing parts of themselves.

 

[wiak]

Oh, John Deere warns about the "unintended consequences"

 

[YHWACH]

In the 70's Caterpillar came out with a half hour video called Three Finger Joe or something like that. It illustrated in graphic detail injuries that could and do happen when you ignore or are unaware of proper safety. I am all for guys being able to repair their junk but I tell you now there are going to be a lot more "Three Finger Joe's".

Even a blender will maime you if you don't observe safety while fixing it

 

[RudyBob]

These men and women can handle these jobs without loosing parts of themselves.

Most can mechanically speaking. Doubt anyone loses an eyeball fiddling with the onboard computer

 

[RudyBob]

Even a blender will maime you if you don't observe safety while fixing it

I leave my blender plugged in while I work on the switch too

 

[RudyBob]

I'll let people decide for themselves. They still show the classic safety videos on jobs today because they're legitimately entertaining. And props to CAT for knowing they'll actually get people to pay attention by doing that.

Also, to anyone who watches that video, the comments section is gold.

It's a great video. I have it on DVR. People will make fun of this because it's easier to do than look at it for what it really is. I hope everyone on Techspot watches it

 

[Durch]

Next up should be personal vehicles, especially all of the new electronics and sensors added. And for goodness sake, please bring back the transmission dip stick.

Planned obsolescence beds to die and this is a good start.

 

[mcnabney]

The only part of your homes electrical system that you own that you aren't allowed to touch is between the meter and your homes electrical box. Everything from the meter to the street is the property of the electric companies.

Nope. You are confusing the demark for phone lines with electrical. You own everything from the poll on down. Some stupid law changed the minimum height a meter could be above the ground (for viewing purposes, not fair for short meter-readers to have high meters or something) so when we updated from 100A to 200A service the meter had to be lowered. This required an entirely new drop to be put in (because it needed to be 10" longer) and we got to pay for that. The homeowner owns the wire, but tapping into electricity on the other side of the meter is considered the same thing as tampering with a meter.

 

[yRaz]

Nope. You are confusing the demark for phone lines with electrical. You own everything from the poll on down. Some stupid law changed the minimum height a meter could be above the ground (for viewing purposes, not fair for short meter-readers to have high meters or something) so when we updated from 100A to 200A service the meter had to be lowered. This required an entirely new drop to be put in (because it needed to be 10" longer) and we got to pay for that. The homeowner owns the wire, but tapping into electricity on the other side of the meter is considered the same thing as tampering with a meter.

This isn't the first time I've dealt with a case like this. The #1 cause of this is that they're part of an HOA and that it isn't legally enforcable. You'd be surprised how many HOA laws aren't legally enforable. The other side to this is the house was built and grandfathered into some law and that the seller was not able to transfer the legal rights to be grandfathered into such a thing when they bought the property.

To be perfectly fair, you are well within your rights to touch anything from the box going into your house but the utilities lobby heavily against this. You are still absolutely in your right but fighting it legally in court could be more expensive than just hiring an electrician or plumb. If that's you're case then I'm sorry to hear that and have no recommendations for recourse.

 

[Uncle Al]

Personally I think this should be elevated to a Federal Law and if that fails the dealers should be required to provide a single page, 12 point typed statement that makes it clear. They should also be REQUIRED to provide this up front, before any deal or contract is signed so the buyer knows exactly what they are getting into and the supplier should be required to maintain a listing of parts & service costs......too many years of companies like JD taking advantage of customers.