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we're gonna hook uh
my laptop up to this combine and try to
get codes out of it i guess
i would say what i'm doing is hacking
farms today use a tremendous amount of
technology deer mates claims that you
only really have the license to use
their software and for someone to say
they own the software pretty much takes
away the whole viability of the entire
tractor or piece of equipment
the only person that can repair those
tractors to a great extent is
the dealership
i mean look at the size of this machine
if i had to haul this thing 100 miles
every time
something went wrong with it it cost a
fortune i mean just to get it on a truck
because a thousand bucks and by the time
you get it hauled somewhere and get it
hauled back you're too grand into fixing
something maybe relatively minor
what we've had developed is essentially
a monopoly on repair
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we live in a disposable society when our
technology breaks we replace it but the
art of repair is still practiced by a
select few in our tech obsessed culture
tractors are the workhorses of
agriculture
but unlike the past the tractor of today
is a complex computerized system that
relies on embedded software to function
while technology has made tractors more
efficient it has made repair nearly
impossible for farmers who need access
to the software to repair their
equipment
we went to nebraska to meet the people
at the forefront of right to repair
a movement fighting large tech companies
for access to the diagnostic software
needed to fix our things
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i am uh
actually the fifth generation farming
here on this this operation where you
sit today we've been around for a while
since the mid-1800s
the kids laugh because she's my cat
she follows me around more the big
tractors over here
we use for the day-to-day operations in
row crop farming anything that requires
a lot of horsepower a lot of traction
you know those are both big issues for
us a smaller tractors like this little
guy here we use for maintenance of the
yard we use them a lot these little
tractors we use a lot in the vegetable
operation
this is the tractor
that i learned to drive tractor on
one of the things on growing up on a
farm that happens is you learn to do
everything very young as soon as i could
sit on the very front edge of that seat
and push that clutch in i learned how to
drive and the beauty of that tractor in
terms of repair is i can go anywhere and
get parts for it we could tear this
thing down and overhaul it in probably a
week's time it's a different era for
sure the earliest developments were in
the engines
and probably from
the mid-80s you know we started to see
computerized components and engines
to the point where in the mid-90s
essentially the entire engine is run by
the computer and so now today all
functions of the tractor are run by the
computer
the seat in that tractor
over there is more complicated than this
entire tractor
as tractors have become more high-tech
the repairs have become more challenging
we do not have the ability to hook up a
computer to a tractor to diagnose it
to repair it or even to activate
components that we may buy to put on
that tractor particularly with older
tractors
we would we would buy used reparts and
put on them to save money and today i
can go out and there are used parts for
these tractors these newer tractors that
are available but if i put them on the
tractor won't run
this receiver is
for the most part a perfectly
functioning receiver okay
the what this does is it receives
satellite signals
from gps satellites tcm in this
is
broken okay it's not functioning
what we were told by deer is well we
don't support this anymore so
essentially what they did was they
forced us to buy a new
unit
because they won't support this anymore
and we can't get the repairs for it
this is actually my house really i i
work from a home i guess you call it but
i got buildings i put up around here
just so i could you know work from work
from home this is my
latest project i worked on it's uh we
call it the luda crusher but it's a
monster truck i built my business is
ludicky diesel basically have a repair
shop and
what i do is pretty much mostly is just
to repair john your equipment
just because i used to work in the
johnny dealership for 23 years and all
the customers know me so they come in
and it's been great if say it was
actually a computer fault where the
computer itself was damaged or or would
not stop communicating and had to
replace it i could physically physically
replace the computer but
the computers come basically brain dead
so you have to have the software from
john deere
for this serial number tractor my
biggest situation that i i can't fix
everything you know every situation now
is
you know because i don't have you know
john deere service advisor
laptop you know i can't connect with
equipment pretty restricted on what i
can do as far as newer equipment
one of the things i've been told some
guys are doing to deal with these issues
is there's pirated software out there
from uh eastern europe the guys are
utilizing to try to to get around this
to to be able to work on their tractors
themselves i believe the software i got
to hack version of john deere's system
when it comes to tractors i mean i
farm so out of necessity they break down
and i have to
repair them in one way or another and
it's a lot cheaper to do it myself than
it is to haul it into
a repair shop and our dealer to have it
fixed
we got lots of
i mean everywhere on a combine there's a
sensor here and a sensor there and every
every single little part of it has a
electrical sensor in it a couple of
years ago we were
doing a custom anhydrous
fertilizer on
corn fields and you have a real small
window to be able to get this done in
the year
and
the tractor broke down so i had to find
the software to be able to repair my
tractor and
make my customer happy and
make make a living there's a whole
selection of the machines based on
serial numbers and what they are
and you got to pick the one out that's
the right serial number for this machine
and then you'll be able to come over
here
once you get able to get into this you
know i can go in and i can do a
diagnostic on it and it'll start
checking all the codes and looking for
what i have wrong
and then i can go up here and i can look
at them and see what the problem is and
why it's popping up
in 2015 the library of congress granted
an exemption to the digital millennium
copyright act that makes it legal for
farmers to hack their tractors for the
purposes of repair but software
modification is still against john
deere's terms of service which were
updated soon after the ruling
despite this right to repair is a
growing movement that's turning ordinary
farmers like guy mills into activists
i wrote an op-ed in the paper after i
researched a digital millennium
copyright act
i talked to some other people and other
farmers after i wrote this opt-in they
said hey we like what you said i said
you know maybe we should do something
about this so i made a resolution for
our local nebraska corridors
and i said let's let's put something in
our in our uh
bylaws there that we we support a right
to repair and who could argue with that
then lydia brosh and i i must commend
her she'd come in there with lb67 i am
six names down
the fare repair act gives an individual
the ability you've always had the right
but the ability to purchase the
diagnostic tools
and to take it somewhere local
or to try to repair the equipment
yourself apple and microsoft showed up
the hearing in lincoln why would apple
care about
whether a farmer from nebraska works on
his tractor lb 67 got the attention of
big tech companies because it affects
the repair of all electronics including
smartphones computers and of course
tractors again the way the bill is
drafted it says that any product that is
sold and used in the state of nebraska
if i'm the big guy what i do is i i just
don't sell my products in the state of
nebraska because they have to be sold
here if it's online i don't sell to
anybody who has a zip code in nebraska
and if i'm a little manufacturer i move
out of the state of nebraska
you get lobbyists on occasion but never
has anyone flown in to discourage me
from introducing a bill and their points
i believe were not valid i don't believe
it's valid that this would open a
mecca for hackers they stated their case
they were doing their job
and i believe i'm doing my job in
protecting constituents and helping them
you know to be able to grow economies in
our local towns the bill passes i can go
buy this cable instead of building my
own
and i would be able to just hook into
the data port and be able to get all the
information that i need
right there
i wouldn't have to
improvise and build my own stuff to
be able to see what's going on
lb 67 or the fair repair act is still
being held by the nebraska state
legislature
as of the beginning of 2018 12 states
are considering similar bills
john deere declined our request to visit
nebraska dealerships but they gave us a
statement regarding right to repair
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when i see the implement dealers and you
do see them they're people on your main
street you know you don't wish them any
ill you know you you wish them success
you want them to continue to serve the
community and and i think they can do
that as they access or give you access
to the technology
of the diagnostics it's just the
diagnostics folks
it's really interesting these older
tractors
are still capable of going out and doing
a day's work
and i wonder with all the technology we
have in the in the newer tractors if the
same will be true of them when they're
that same age
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you