421–430 of 511 posts
For example, I would assume that, India being a largely agricultural economy, has a pretty strong base of farming equipment. Is this an opportunity for them?
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…
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.
Especially now "right to repair" is gaining traction and reducing waste is becoming a social issue.
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> Here's a neat idea: maybe regulating software engineering like other engineering disciplines is actually overdue? Yet at the same time, failure rate will never be zero. Please could you describe this more? I’m intrigued. I don’t know anything about this and what systems or mechanisms are used to regulate engineering, so any links or simple explanations are appreciated!
Overview of professional engineer process: https://www.nspe.org/resources/licensure/what-pe . It varies from place to place (although transferrable from country to country via the Washington Accord https://www.ieagreements.org/accords/washington/ ). If you want to e.g. build a bridge it needs to be signed off on by an appropriately licensed and qualified Professional Engineer. Essentially the parent comment is saying…
That's a very good piece capturing a lot of the issues (esp GPS retrofitting which is easy and make a huge difference).
The one thing it doesn't quite draw out is that the market has segmented. If you are a small to mid farmer you have fairly low demands for horsepower and can tolerate small breakdowns you can fix in the field. So buying an older machine makes sense.
If you are a big farmer or a contractor (person with a big tractor/combine/machine who hires out) you need high horsepower and 18 hour a day operation without breakdowns. as in fleet purchasing for trucks they have rolling finance for high capital value kit to replace it every couple of years having run up high hours.
The modern electronic high power kit is quite amazing, it's not gratuitous use of electronics. Electronics also important for meeting modern emissions regs.
Tractors, as the piece points out have to be ultra rugged for field work and that means that the older stuff does last well and 100hp or over will get you a long way.
I think we are coming to a point where "progress" stops and technology stays stable
We recently had to bin a beloved TV, and were looking for a "simple" 4k TV (i.e. not a smart TV ) to replace it, and were surprised to find that they simply don't exist! We ended up uncovering a 6 year old 1080p TV that was still in the box at Best Buy. All in all, this problem might present an opportunity -- there might be new markets for these types of devices (dumb TVs, tractors, refrigerators, air conditioners, t…
Just don't hook the "smart TV" up to the internet. Then you have a dumb TV.
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Thanks for sharing this about your grandfather. > The world changes and sometimes it sucks but that is how progress is made. This touches on something I think a lot about. Massive driverless farms, in my mind's eye, looks like one puzzle piece towards the utopia of the future. But you do lose the human aspect. It reminds me of Star Trek where Picard is working with his hands on a vineyard. Capitalism is abolished so…
I think the transition from capitalism to Star Trek Utopia is where basic income guarantee can be very helpful
I just checked classifieds and tractor here in Czechia with 20yo replaced engine will cost you 5000EUR, newer up to 10000EUR, still way cheaper than prices they quote
or why is no brand taking this market by hit with some cheap basic tractors like did Dacia in car industry in Europe? seem it should be hit judging by article, just sell tractor without electronics with old design from 80/90s
We recently had to bin a beloved TV, and were looking for a "simple" 4k TV (i.e. not a smart TV ) to replace it, and were surprised to find that they simply don't exist! We ended up uncovering a 6 year old 1080p TV that was still in the box at Best Buy. All in all, this problem might present an opportunity -- there might be new markets for these types of devices (dumb TVs, tractors, refrigerators, air conditioners, t…
Just don't hook the "smart TV" up to the internet. Then you have a dumb TV.
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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.