Comment on The feds are coming for John Deere over the right to repair: The farm equipment giant has fought against letting farmers repair their own equipment for years

shalafi@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

• AlecSadler@sh.itjust.works ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  I hate myself for buying a John Deere tractor, but it was up to $5000 less than any comparable competitor at the time, included a 5 year service contract, and was 0.9% financing.

  I’m in a better place financially now, so when I can and need to, I’m absolutely getting something different.

  source

  • DJDarren@thelemmy.club ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I get that ready cash availability at the time is absolutely a factor, but it does make you wonder whether spending $5k more on the competitor would save a bunch of money in shit that John Deere won’t let you repair for yourself down the line.

    source
• ImplyingImplications@lemmy.ca ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  How are they still in business? Every single farmer, bar none, has to know about their business practices

  Wendover Productions has a decent video on John Deere’s market dominance. tl;dw It’s by cutthroat capitalism of course.

  John Deere has bought out all their competitors and continues to do so. Every single breakthrough in farming equipment technology in the last decade is owned by John Deere. As a farmer, you either choose to sign a one-sided contract with John Deere or you use outdated inefficient equipment that John Deere hasn’t purchased the patent rights to. Or, of course, you sell your farm all together. Large corporate farms don’t care much about the John Deere contract since they have the power to negotiate a better deal. A lot of small farmers have been making the choice to sell out.

  Soon, all farming will be done by one megacorp, buying their seed from Monsanto, using John Deere equipment, and cashing in a ridiculously fat subsidy cheque from the government.

  source
• greenskye@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Modern farming is extremely reliant on gps and ‘smart’ planters, fertilizers, etc. Using tech to precisely control exactly how much seed, chemicals, etc is used can result in significantly less costs. My understanding is that Deere has bought out basically every company that has a decent implementation of this technology and is an effective monopoly on modern farming equipment.

  You can move away from them, but expect your business costs to significantly increase as a result.

  source

  • ikidd@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Having used every GPS system out there (there are plenty besides Deere’s), the best one I’ve used is one I built myself with the opensource project AgOpenGPS. Deere’s is second best but well integrated with their equipment. Trimble, Raven and Outback are expensive shit.

    source
  • PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I wouldn’t say they have a total monopoly. As a farmer’s son, it’s entirely about having a dealer close by your operation. Most farmers just use the brand that has a location nearest to their farm. All the brands are all more or less the same these days as far as large row crop farming is concerned. My father used mostly New Holland equipment and Kinze planters, for example.

    source
• Churbleyimyam@lemm.ee ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  Remember that many of their customers are young contractors on credit who have valued ‘brand identity’ over more practical concerns.

  You don’t see many old boys on their tractors, in the same way that you wouldn’t see many of them using Apple computers.

  My bet is that a decent proportion of the John Deere owners who are up in arms about this are those who bought one while they were young and impressionable, then realised that they were getting punished for it and that they couldn’t offload it on their younger contemporaries because they wanted a new one and couldn’t offload it on their older contemporaries because they were too wise. These modern tractors are enormous investments.

  source
• v1605@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

  The real question is what other options do farms have? Let’s say their tracker breaks down and repair is no longer an option. How many other manufacturers are making the type of equipment they need? And how expensive would it be to enter that market to compete? To me it seems like John Deer has a monopoly and is exploiting it.

  source

  • Cocodapuf@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    Not all, but a lot of this equipment is also made by caterpillar, right?

    source

    • v1605@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      If they do, are they competitive? Or are they doing the same thing. It could also be like car dealerships in certain states, you’re not allowed to just open one within x miles of another (though that refers to more of the same brand). Wouldn’t surprise me if they can’t have dealerships near each other due to backwards legislation.

      source
  • 1995ToyotaCorolla@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    I live in an area with a lot of farms and I’ve been seeing more foreign brands (e.g. Fendt) popping up lately.

    source
  • Zorsith@lemmy.blahaj.zone ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

    By the time John deere can even get them a replacement or repair, it’s too late and their harvest may just be fucked

    source

    • v1605@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago

      Exactly why John Deer should not be allowed to do this. Any threat to the food supply should be considered a national security risk.

      source