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

Post by trhway » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 8:57 PM UTC

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.

Post by ogre_codes » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 8:59 PM UTC

rtkwe wrote: post #93

ogre_codes wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We could insist on a right to repair, open standards, etc The advantage older equipment has is that a generalist can repair it because the equipment is fairly simple and well understood. Parts on older equipment are easier to source or sometimes can be fabricated by the farmer themselves. Newer equipment has tighter tolerances and components are more difficult to fabricate or repair. Computerized components require…

Specifically though on tractors we're seeing companies essentially DRMing replacement parts. Farmers etc can easily find and install parts but then the computer controller will not recognize the replacement or won't reset from the error condition.

Post by zozbot234 » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 8:59 PM UTC

solatic wrote: post #114

lostgame wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't know the answer to that - you may have wanted to think it through a little more. Manufacturing at scale is hard and expensive. John Deere has been doing it for years, creating the most reliable tractors in the world for decades and has only recently decided to bend customers over to give them the ol' in-out-in-out. A new brand would need to start from almost smaller than scratch, and have tens of million…

In today's market, your argument doesn't hold water. A new brand would need to start from smaller than scratch? So what? People start new companies every day. It would require tens of millions of dollars of investment? So what? We keep being told how capital markets are just sloshing with cash looking for investment opportunities; that one of the reasons for rising inequality is due to the dearth of investment opport…

Post by andrepd » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 9:03 PM UTC

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.

Post by wolco » Mon, Jan 06, 2020, 9:03 PM UTC

minikites wrote: post #96

Vesuvium wrote: post #86

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These companies are losing customers. That is never good for business. Eventually, someone will take the matter into his own hand and start making 80s-like tractors, so these companies will lose even more customers. They could do the same, but at this point they lost the trust of their customers, so it will be very hard to gain them back.

Really? Which products are getting more repairable with time? Nobody is bringing back easily repairable washing machines or easily repairable automobiles.