(Radio Iowa) – The Iowa House has overwhelmingly approved a bill that would give Iowans a clear right to repair their farm equipment. Republican Representative Derek Wulf of Hudson says software locks and corporate control are costing farmers time and money when tractors and combines break down — and they have to wait for a dealer’s technician to fix it.
“Today farmers are being told that they don’t have the right to fix their equipment they paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for,” Wulf said. “Think about that. You buy it, you depend on it, but when it breaks you’re locked out.” The bill would require manufacturers to make parts, software and the tools to make repairs on farm equipment available to the owner of the implement at fair and reasonable terms or costs.
In 2023, manufacturers signed an agreement with the American Farm Bureau to voluntarily provide information to farmers about how to repair tractors, combines and other farm equipment, but Wulf and others say that agreement isn’t working. “Right to Repair legislation is about drawing a line in the sand. It says if you bought it, you own it. You have a right to fix it, modify it and keep it running without asking permission. Farmers built this country on independence and grit and self-reliance, now they’re being told they need a password and a corporate blessing to turn a wrench.”
The bill also would ensure the data collected by a combine, for example, can’t be sold by the manufacturer to other businesses that might impose surveillance pricing. Representative J.D. Scholten, a Democrat from Sioux City, says with that data about the harvest, a company could figure out which farmers could afford to pay more for seeds or fertilizer. “This isn’t a right versus left issue as much as it is fair versus corporate overreach,” Scholten said. “The data is confidential business information that rightly belongs to the producers.”
Colorado was the first state to pass a “Right to Repair” law. Scholten says Iowa should become the second. “In 1888 in this very building the Iowa Legislature passed and the governor signed into law the country’s first anti-trust law to protect farmers from an abusive railroad,” Scholen said. “This bill here before us today is an ancestor of that historic law.”
The bill passed the House on a 70-to-18 vote. It must pass the Senate before it could go to the governor. A manager of government affairs for John Deere says the company does not believe the legislation is needed because farmers already have all the tools and resources available to them right now to work on their own equipment.
