Podcast Explains Why Farmers Support Right to Repair

Farmers across America are fighting for the freedom to repair their own equipment. This is the focus of the most recent Farmers Union Our Way of Life podcast.

“In South Dakota we like to brag about how safe and free we are. You tell me how we are safe and free when farmers and ranchers are not allowed to fix their own tractors,” said Doug Sombke, President of South Dakota Farmers Union and a fourth-generation Brown County farmer.

Bills to support this freedom were introduced in legislatures across the U.S. “The Right to Repair is the freedom farmers across the U.S. want because for generations, literally 100 years since tractors replaced horses, farmers have been repairing their own equipment,” explained Willie Cade, director of the Theo Brown Society.

Named for his grandfather, Theo Brown, the society is an agricultural Right to Repair advocacy effort led by Cade to honor his grandfather’s legacy.

“My grandfather, ‘Popo,’ who I adored, was the chief engineer of John Deere in 1925 when they decided to compete against Henry Ford building tractors….it breaks my heart to see his legacy abused,” Cade said.

Cade started advocating seven years ago when he began to hear that John Deere and other manufacturers of agriculture equipment were not giving farmers the required tools and software which would allow them to diagnose and repair their own equipment.

“In farming, timing is critical. Farmers get one chance to get it right. If the conditions are right to plant, they need to plant. If conditions are right to harvest, they need to harvest. And if their tractor, planter or combine breaks down, they need the freedom to repair it and not be forced to wait for a brand specific technician,” Cade explained.

Sombke agreed. “South Dakota is very rural and many of our small towns do not have an implement dealer. Because we can only use Butler technician to fix our FENDT planter, and they are in high demand, my sons have had to wait up to three days to have a technician arrive. Three days may not sound like much, but at planting it could be the difference between getting a crop in the ground in time to catch a timely rain or having it droughted out. We need the freedom to repair our own equipment.”

Sombke explained that as a grassroots organization, Right to Repair is among the policy issues South Dakota Farmers Union members discussed and voted on during their state and national policy meetings. Click here to hear the complete conversation.