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Digital Rights/Restrictions Management (DRM) technologies affecting new tractors are behind the continuing rise in popularity of the models. Particularly in the midwest, farmers are finding that 40-year-old tractors do the job with less trouble and expense.
Tractors manufactured in the late 1970s and 1980s are some of the hottest items in farm auctions across the Midwest these days — and it's not because they're antiques.
Cost-conscious farmers are looking for bargains, and tractors from that era are well-built and totally functional, and aren't as complicated or expensive to repair as more recent models that run on sophisticated software.
"It's a trend that's been building. It's been interesting in the last couple years, which have been difficult for ag, to see the trend accelerate," said Greg Peterson, the founder of Machinery Pete, a farm equipment data company in Rochester with a website and TV show.
Previously;
Reeducating Legislators on the Right to Repair (2019)
John Deere Just Swindled Farmers Out of Their Right to Repair (2018)
US Copyright Office Says People Have the Right to Hack their Own Cars' Software (2015)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 10 2020, @08:10PM (3 children)
So I buy 2 cheap Chinese tractors for more than the mid-tier or even expensive one costs here, and still have less features, less access to parts, less experience on it by myself and my mechanic, and I take a crap shot on how long the random brand will be supported. Some solution.
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Friday January 10 2020, @09:41PM (2 children)
Or you could buy an expensive dear john with expensive service costs (that's how they make a lot of their money) with more features, access to parts and experience by you and your mechanic rendered irrelevant, and you take a crap shoot on how long the particular model will be supported. Some solution.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 11 2020, @02:09AM (1 child)
Ignoring the fact your alternatives aren't cheap Chinese vs John Deere, the Deere will still be supported for a long time. For example, look up on their parts website [deere.com] the 2040 or the 4020, two tractors last available in '72, and '82, respectively. You can still get OEM parts on their website, not to mention the compatible non-OEM ones on the open market. Deere and other major manufacturers have a history of supporting their stuff for a long time. Can you really say that parts are going to be available for the Chinese ones almost 50 years later or that they will even last that long to put parts in?
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Saturday January 11 2020, @04:07AM
No, I'm saying that parts availability will be dependant on a company that's just (in the last decade) discovered that it can strongarm the disavantages of both buying and leasing to the customer and keep all the advantages to itself. In other words, only until them EOLling equipment is more profitable than providing backup; 'cos then you need to buy new.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.