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

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

#411

Post by jeffrallen »

jdhn wrote: post #249
jeffrallen wrote: post #231

A farmer in my village in Switzerland imported a 1980's Ford tractor from Texas. He had to repair the front axle, which had been cut. He told me the axle was cut to render the tractor unusable after it was traded in for some kind of emissions credit. Anyone hear of such a system?

Sounds like the farming equivalent of Cash for Clunkers. IIRC, Cash for Clunkers rendered the vehicle inoperable by destroying the engine block, and in this case it seems that they cut the axle.

This is the CA one: https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/farmer-program

And this is an example Certificate of Destruction: http://valleyair.org/grants/documents/FARMER/Certificate-of-...

"I hereby certify that the equipment and engine described above has been received by this facility and will be permanently destroyed for recycling purposes only in accordance with the Heavy-Duty Off-Road Agricultural Equipment Replacement Program Guidelines"

So, at least in CA, it is not legal to export the tractor.

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

#412

Post by sfifs »

IggleSniggle wrote: post #401
nine_k wrote: post #380

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has to have a computer, the way your ICE car has a computer, or maybe the way your washing machine or a microwave has a computer (they all do). It should serve the driver, and be low-profile and unobtrusive.

Does my washer really have a computer? Electric control board, certainly, but the timers are all mechanical. What is there to compute?

It's a hell of a lot cheaper to throw in a micro-controller than use mechanical timers etc. At bulk, an MCU based control board should cost you single digit dollars.

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

#413

Post by sfifs »

combatentropy wrote: post #365
NicoJuicy wrote: post #348

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most things that break are electrical, not mechanical. The mechanics of reliable machines are taught in school and are widely available + relatively easy to repair. And I'm speaking from growing up in a village with the highest agricultural % of population in Belgium. Which my family is also pretty involved with ( my dad is a veterinarian for farm animals, my uncle has ~40 tractors) Also: a cousin with a garage, some…

> I'd actually buy a mechanical environmental-friendly car. I agree. In fact an electric car could be simple. Just because it has an electric motor doesn't mean it has to have a computer too.

There's fairly complex compute that happens in the battery cooling, motor cooling power train etc in a Tesla that gives it the acceleration and range to compete with ICE cars. The early 1900s electric cars that were more akin to what you describe never had the range, power or acceleration to compete.

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

#414

Post by lucb1e »

stjohnswarts wrote: post #312
Someone1234 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just don't hook the "smart TV" up to the internet. Then you have a dumb TV.

Exactly, it can't phone home so you essentially have lobotomized the smart part.

You still get the software crap. An old TV, power on was instant, you can switch to a different input at will. My current TV has a reasonably short boot time (but still a boot time) but then switching to HDMI input it says "smart features will be available shortly" until it fully booted. The remote is also awful, you get this crappy cursor (operated like a Wii) that isn't actually any easier than using the UI with arrow buttons, you can't turn it off, and it switches from buttons to this mouse type input when you move it too much. I hate it.

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

#415

Post by dejv »

romwell wrote: post #338
dejv wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a person operating decades old equipment I see trade offs here. Old machines are reliable and cheap to operate, but they are also NOISY, steering require quite some muscle strength and cabin without ac and filters is not pleasant and most importantly good for your health.

>steering require quite some muscle strength and cabin without ac and filters is not pleasant and most importantly good for your health. Yeah, AC and filters don't require a computer. Neither does power steering, to my knowledge.

Once you want to add AC you need to add more support systems making whole machine more complex and more expensive to operate.

There are actually tractors like that, but those brands are failing unable to compete with high tech tractors like JD or New Holland on one side and with simple old tractors on another.

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

#416

Post by rayhendricks »

unapologetic wrote: post #268
NicoJuicy wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tractor as a service will only bite them back. Look at how popular 40-year old tractors are :) It's never been a better time to create a good old repairable machine.

They all want to get to the point of being Tesla. Hiding features only in software, pushing out updates, and trying to bake in a living (recurring revenue) model. It's a problem for a lot of reasons. First off it's the complete death of ownership. I can't fix things. At some point they will probably just lock stuff back down if I want to sell, assuming I can even sell without them getting a cut. Second, repairability…

We just need to put more effort into hacking the onboard computers. I’m sure we all remember the mod chips that gained popularity over the last couple decades.

If the market demands it, which with the advent of computers on tractors platform this can and will be modified to allow for the maximum utility for the end user. I see nothing wrong with this.

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

#417

Post by tixocloud »

dumbfoundded wrote: post #403
steveklabnik wrote: post #157

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I come from at least three generations of cattle farmers. My dad had to work a tool and die job, because unlike his father, it was already not possible to raise a family via family farm. It's really brutal.

I actually think the trend is starting to reverse. At least in the area where I live in Ashland, OR where I have a 10-acre farm. What I'm seeing is products are becoming more and more niche. Kind of like how craft beers became a thing. I think it's easier than ever for a farm to create specialized products and sell them directly to consumers. Before this way of ecommerce tools, it was nearly impossible for a small fa…

In the short or medium term, do you think going niche can be a viable family business 2.0? Has it been challenging having to manage the customer side of things?

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

#418

Post by cosmodisk »

philwelch wrote: post #383
titanomachy wrote: post #371

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Quick look at usnews suggests median plumber (in US) makes ~50k and median psychiatrist makes ~200k. I'm sure there are some plumbers that make more than some psychiatrists, but that doesn't really support the assertion that the market values their skills equally.

I think it depends a lot on the local market. It's also a little misleading to compare the numbers that way. It usually takes a lot longer to become a psychiatrist in the first place. Your cumulative earnings in the first ten years after graduating high school might be higher as a plumber; in fact, I suspect most people who become doctors actually lose net worth throughout those ten years due to student loans. They j…

Having worked in plumbing for a while, I can say that anyone who's got their arms in right places and a bit of flair for entrepreneurship can make pretty good money in this field. There's so much work is unbelievable and most of it isn't that hard to do. Also, the hours are decent. Psychiatrists,on the other hand,while on higher income, have to deal with some very challenging and sometimes dark personalities who tend to drain you.It can be very demanding.

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

#419

Post by Piskvorrr »

lmm wrote: post #297
Armisael16 wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems rather implausible given that railroads came about at the same time.

How affordable was railroad travel? Even assuming there was a railroad in the right place, would people have been able to go back and forth often enough for courtship?

Railroads revolutionized cargo. Passenger transport was a cute party trick at first.

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

#420

Post by modo_mario »

dvfjsdhgfv wrote: post #404
heavyset_go wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The world changes and sometimes it sucks but that is how progress is made. Progress for whom? Seems like a false dichotomy to me.

I share your sentiment. In the case of farming is not so much progress as regress, at least in many cases. For example, in Europe farmers can get the money from the EU, but only if they use certain seeds. So basically there are a couple of crops to choose from that get repeated year by year. What happens to the soil is a great disaseter. Obviusly nobody can use more natural kinds of fertilizers these days and the foo…

Can you clarify the money for use of certain seeds bit? I'm quite interested in EU affairs and hadn't heard of this. I'd expect something that wouldn't give money for certain seeds but this seems like that turned around.
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