Farmers Are Fighting for Our Right to Repair Our iPhones

tech.hindustantimes.com:

The average Tesla-driving, iPhone-using suburbanite isn't spending a lot of time worrying about tractor software payloads. They should, though.

Fixing a broken-down farm tractor used to take just a wrench set and some elbow grease. Now repairs might require a mobile-device interface, online diagnostic tools and secure software updates, too. And that stuff isn't just sitting around in the barn. It's mostly held at a shrinking number of manufacturer-authorized dealerships. As a result, simple breakdowns that in the past might have been repaired in hours can now take days or weeks. During busy times, such as spring planting, long delays can harm a farm's crops and profitability.

This spring, at least 11 states are trying to fix this problem. At least one — Colorado — will likely succeed. The solution, known as a right-to-repair law, guarantees that farmers and independent repair shops will have access to the same tools, software and manuals as “authorized” service centers.

The impact won't be confined to farm equipment sheds. Devices ranging from smartphones to Teslas are often subject to similar repair restrictions, raising costs, inconvenience and waste well beyond farm country. Guaranteeing a farmer's right to repair is an important step toward guaranteeing everyone's right to a fix.

For centuries, the American self-image was infused with self-sufficiency, and with good reason. When a prairie homesteader found a hole in his socks, he sewed it up. When the roof leaked, he mended it. There was no alternative. That necessary, enterprising approach extended to farm equipment, which by World War II was becoming highly mechanized. Farmers who bought a tractor took it for granted that they could obtain the parts, tools and manuals