Who should have right to repair farm equipment?

Farmers square off against corporations

York County farmer John Marsteller purchased his $250,000 tractor with his own money.

But it doesn’t feel like he owns it.

Computerized machinery with proprietary components means costly repairs and long wait times for people like Mr. Marsteller. It’s a rude awakening for some farmers after decades of being able to make repairs on their own.

“It’s like you think you own something, but you don’t have the rights to work on it at all,” said Mr. Marsteller, the owner of Stewartstown, Pa.- based Green Valley Farms. “If you rely on your dealer to do all of your mechanical work — you’ll go broke.”

The problem goes beyond farming.

It can affect anything with computerized parts — including MRI machines, computers or cellphones. As large manufacturers are increasingly making products difficult to repair, independently owned repair shops don’t have the access to specific parts or tools to fully

service their customers.

In response, groups such as Right to Repair have popped up to advocate for small business owners and their right to own the tools and parts to service their equipment.

“We believe that equipment owners should have true ownership over these devices,” said Emma HorstMartz, an advocate for the Right to Repair campaign at U.S. PIRG, a consumer advocacy group. “The problem right now is that these original equipment manufacturers hold a monopoly on repair services by not providing parts, tools and diagnostic equipment.”

For farmers especially — this can be detrimental, Ms. Horst-Martz said.

If something like a sensor breaks on a tractor, it triggers the computer system to think something is wrong and shuts down the entire tractor, putting it out of commission until a repair technician can arrive to fix it.

This was the case for Mr. Marsteller on several occasions.

“You have to wait whenever they can get a technician to you, so you just stand around twiddling your thumbs,” Mr. Marsteller said, adding that labor costs for the technician typically runs $125 per hour.

Several bills are in the works that would require original equipment manufacturers to sell parts, tools and information for a “reasonable price” so that anybody can fix their electronic device, Ms. Horst-Martz said.

State Rep. Russ Diamond, R-Lebanon, introduced House Bill 1152, which is now in the House Commerce Committee. A Senate version has a co -sponsorship memo from Sen. Elder Vogel, R-Beaver, but has not yet been introduced, she added. Mr. Vogel chairs the Senate Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee.

“It’s important for people to remember that small family farmers have really been through the wringer this year,” Ms. Horst-Martz said. “I think the pandemic has been incredibly difficult on them, and we truly rely on farming communities to feed out communities. They make significant up-front investments in their equipment like tractors to be able to do their jobs.”