Australian farmers abandon voluntary deal, want a real Right to Repair 

In late January, the Australian National Farmers Federation (ANFF) abandoned negotiations for a “Memorandum of Understanding” facilitating the Right to Repair farm equipment. For the last two years, the group had held discussions with the Tractor and Machinery Association of Australia (TMA) about a voluntary agreement, such as the one between the American Farm Bureau and Federation and John Deere. 

ANFF President David Jochinke said at the end of January that “the organization is now pursuing a legislated Right to Repair for agricultural machinery.” 

Recent legislative victories for the Right to Repair in Canada and Colorado offer our Australian friends hope. Here at PIRG, we have documented some of the downsides of voluntary agreements, which have led us to believe that legislation provides stronger and longer-lasting protections. Australia has a Right to Repair law covering motor vehicles (the “Motor Vehicle Information Scheme”) and Right to Repair advocates are pushing to include farm equipment in that existing law. 

If there is a technician shortage, why not equip more technicians?

TMA, which represents farm equipment dealers and manufacturers, thinks the Right to Repair push is misguided. Gary Northover, TMA’s executive director, thinks the more important issue to address is a lack of skilled workers required to fill in-demand jobs at authorized dealers, something the Right to Repair will not help with.  

Critics and advocates such as Leanne Wiseman, chair of the Australian Repair Network, reject this assertion. She noted: “There is a whole independent group that are skilled to service rural and regional [equipment] that the TMA are not aware of.” 

The real hurdle to making repairs is not a lack of skilled workers, but the lack of access to repair information which has frustrated any farmers’ attempts to maintain their own machines, or third party mechanics from handling these repairs. 

The inability of farmers to access critical repair materials is a significant hurdle. Wiseman estimates that “if the repair challenges follow the same pattern of light vehicles in Australia, repairers are losing 7 hours for every repair job as they try to diagnose and sort the problem,” leading to huge productivity loss on farms across the country as tractors sit idle. 

“With new machinery there is pressure on us not to do our own maintenance – even an oil change, and that’s not brain surgery,” Australian farmer Martin Honner told the Guardian. “I feel we’ve been dumbed-down.”

Farmers everywhere deserve the right to fix their own equipment, when and how they choose. It’s time for manufacturers to embrace Right to Repair fully, without the caveats that have undermined other voluntary agreements. If not, farmers will turn to legislation to protect their ability to fix equipment.