Farmers Are Fighting for Our Right to Repair Our iPhones
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The average Tesla-driving, iPhone-using suburbanite isn't spending a lot of time worrying about tractor software payloads. They should, though.Fixing a broken-down farm tractor used to take just a wrench set and some elbow grease. Now repairs might require a mobile-device interface, online diagnostic tools and secure software updates, too. And that stuff isn't just sitting around in the barn. It's mostly held at a shrinking number of manufacturer-authorized dealerships. As a result, simple breakdowns that in the past might have been repaired in hours can now take days or weeks. During busy times, such as spring planting, long delays can harm a farm's crops and profitability. This spring, at least 11 states are trying to fix this problem. At least one — Colorado — will likely succ...