Tester Explains New Right To Repair Legislation For Farmers
During a conference call with state newspapers last week, U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., explained his “Right To Repair” farm equipment legislation that he introduced on Wednesday, Feb. 2.
Tester noted that in “real life” he is a farmer, and that he understands “time is literally money on the farm.”
With advanced technology now being incorporated into production agriculture, it has become more and more difficult for farmers and ranchers to fix their own equipment, hurting the bottom lines of both producers and local non dealer- certified repair shops. Tester’s legislation aims to combat the issue of right to repair by requiring original equipment manufacturers to make it easier for farmers to make these repairs and continue doing business in rural America.
“We need to repair our own equipment, this is very important,” Tester said during the press call.
The legislation tackles consolidation in the repair market specifically by requiring equipment manufacturers to:
•Make available any documentation, part, software, or tool required to diagnose, maintain, or repair their equipment.
•Provide means to disable and re-enable an electronic security lock or other security-related function to effect diagnostics, repair, or maintenance.
•Permit third party software to provide interoperability with other parts/tools, and to protect both the farmer’s data and equipment from hackers.
•Ensure that when a manufacturer no longer produces documentation, parts, software, or tools for its equipment that the relevant copyrights and patents are placed in the public domain.
•Ensure parts are replaceable using commonly available tools without causing damage to the equipment, or provide specialized tools to owners or independent providers on fair and reasonable terms.
•Return data ownership to farmers. Manufacturers currently collect and sell all the data generated by farmers, and this data is the farmers’ “secret sauce” for how they conduct their business.
Tester explained the legislation, “Manufacturers have prevented producers from fixing their own machines in order to bolster corporate profits, and they’ve done it at the expense of family farmers and ranchers, who work hard every day to harvest the food that feeds families across the country. Farmers operate in tight windows and on tight margins, and they simply can’t afford to waste time or money bringing their equipment to dealer authorized mechanics in the middle of a season. They need to be able to repair their own equipment, and this legislation will secure them that right.”
The legislation is being supported from several agriculture organizations.
“Manufacturers have far too much control over what farmers are allowed to do with their own equipment, and this costs farmers time and money,” said Rob Larew, president of the National Farmers Union. “Sen. Tester’s bill would give farmers and independent mechanics the freedom to fix their equipment in a timely and cost-effective way.”
Also during the conference call, Tester voiced his objection to the news that the IRS will use a third party facial recognition company in order for individuals to access some government documents.
“It’s a bad idea, and I’m being generous when I say bad idea,” Tester said.
When asked his feelings regarding Canadian truckers’ “freedom convoy” against cross-border vaccines. Tester encourages people to get vaccines but said at the end it’s coming down to personal responsibility. He urges the administration to remove the requirement that cross-border truckers must be vaccinated.
