Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

For tech-weary Midwest farmers, 40-year-old tractors now a hot commodity

startribune.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

191–200 of 511 posts

Re: For tech-weary Midwest farmers, 40-year-old tractors now a hot commodity

#191

Post by jccalhoun »

mminer237 wrote: post #148
pmiller2 wrote: post #115

So, what are the real advantages to the newer tractors over older tractors for farmers? Why should a farmer spend 4-10x as much for a newer tractor as they would for a 1980s model?

I'm not an expert, but I think generally tractors have become much bigger and more powerful over time. This works well for the large farms they're marketed to as they have to prepare and plant huge areas quickly. Smaller farmers probably couldn't work the fields fast enough with their older equipment that can't pull super wide discs. Transmissions have definitely become super advanced, but I'm not sure all the advant…

>In addition, newer tractors have a lot of nice, kind of gimmicky features in the cab. Things like satellite radio, working air conditioning, anti-theft systems, and GPS-controlled planting are nice even if they're not necessary.

From what I understand, this is really the main advantage.

Re: For tech-weary Midwest farmers, 40-year-old tractors now a hot commodity

#192

Post by ahoy »

wolco wrote: post #172
sl1ck731 wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The same could be said for robots displacing humans in factories or trucks or anywhere else. That doesn't make it less sad for people's whose livelihoods depend on those positions just because its technological progress.

What is the fear around robots? Machines have been displacing human labour for the last 100 years.

Losing your job to automation is bad for your livelihood. It has been since we started automating things.

Re: For tech-weary Midwest farmers, 40-year-old tractors now a hot commodity

#193

Post by earlINmeyerkeg »

macinjosh wrote: post #140
earlINmeyerkeg wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The greatest innovation in the history of mankind was a land consolidation. It took what 100 peasants all making enough food for subsistence living to 100 peasants be able to make enough food for thousands of people. It's not sad, it's progress.

Progress on a societal scale for certain. Sadness on the personal scale as new generations mourn the loss of their family's historical way of life. Both can exist :)

That only exists on a generational level. The generations born afterward will never know about it, and therefore not care because it wasn't embedded in their cultural perspective.

It's like taking a childs binky away. Over time, you totally forget why you even had the thing in the first place.

Re: For tech-weary Midwest farmers, 40-year-old tractors now a hot commodity

#194

Post by earlINmeyerkeg »

zorpner wrote: post #135
earlINmeyerkeg wrote: post #128

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The greatest innovation in the history of mankind was a land consolidation. It took what 100 peasants all making enough food for subsistence living to 100 peasants be able to make enough food for thousands of people. It's not sad, it's progress.

It's not sad, it's progress. These are not mutually exclusive concepts.

You're right. I think I personally just get so incredibly upset with people who always look toward the past or are just mortified of change. I associate the sadness with their fear of change.

Re: For tech-weary Midwest farmers, 40-year-old tractors now a hot commodity

#195

Post by vmchale »

brenden2 wrote: post #16

The technology itself is not the issue, the problem is that companies are at war with their customers. These companies will go to any length to extract as much revenue as possible. Milking your customers is not good for business, especially if you drive them into insolvency. I hope in the future there are more companies that try to align incentives with their customers, such that their business practices help custome…

> Many businesses these days seem to be geared toward making a quick buck, rather than really providing any value.

Seems like an American thing, in part.

Re: For tech-weary Midwest farmers, 40-year-old tractors now a hot commodity

#196

Post by wolco »

ahoy wrote: post #192
wolco wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the fear around robots? Machines have been displacing human labour for the last 100 years.

Losing your job to automation is bad for your livelihood. It has been since we started automating things.

Is it bad for your children's livelihood? You are sending a message on a computer made by a machine. Parts are so small it would be impossible to do by hand which created a number of other jobs to support this new ability.

Re: For tech-weary Midwest farmers, 40-year-old tractors now a hot commodity

#197

Post by wolco »

cmcd wrote: post #188
wolco wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the fear around robots? Machines have been displacing human labour for the last 100 years.

During the industrial revolution hard labor jobs transitioned to maintenance work for the machines. The problem is as we improve at automation the need for non-technical maintenance decreases. A small team of engineers can displace thousands or tens of thousands of workers without creating any new opportunities.

It frees up a population to do other work. A small team of engineers can create a platform that creates something new to work on. Second life clothing shop for example that would not exist without machines displacing humans.

Re: For tech-weary Midwest farmers, 40-year-old tractors now a hot commodity

#198

Post by Amezarak »

earlINmeyerkeg wrote: post #128
macinjosh wrote: post #98

My grandfather, rest his soul, was a 3rd generation rancher and farmer. He bought 2 John Deere tractors in the '80s and used them for 35 years. They are still being used to this day on the ranch. Growing up, I visited the ranch regularly. Farming and ranching is very hard on equipment so the tractors often needed repair. My father and grandfather could seemingly fix anything on the tractor without even needing to go…

The greatest innovation in the history of mankind was a land consolidation. It took what 100 peasants all making enough food for subsistence living to 100 peasants be able to make enough food for thousands of people. It's not sad, it's progress.

This particular progress makes us vastly more vulnerable to a catastrophic systems collapse. A lot of small, independent farmers are more antifragile to natural events than a few giant megacorporations. We're optimizing for profits at the expense of disaster.

Re: For tech-weary Midwest farmers, 40-year-old tractors now a hot commodity

#199

Post by jessant »

ahoy wrote: post #190
jessant wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing stopping people from doing that.

There is an enormous body of law in the US that incentivizes a top-down corporate business structure and disincentives a co-op business structure.

I think human nature incentivizes top-down corporate business structures and disincentivizes co-op businesss structures.

Re: For tech-weary Midwest farmers, 40-year-old tractors now a hot commodity

#200

Post by gitgudnubs »

catalogia wrote: post #44
sneak wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If customers don’t want this stuff, why isn’t there a competing company offering non-DRM tractors?

How many times must it be demonstrated that "market forces" is not a silver bullet to every problem before people take the hint?

This problem was created by regulation. It's not clear that markets can work when governments grant monopolies, and don't restrict the ensuing vertical integration. The only solution is to grant weaker monopolies.
Post reply on HN