New Colorado Bill Protects Farmers’ ‘Right To Repair’

Starting next year, Colorado farmers will have a much easier time repairing their equipment thanks to a new state law protecting their right to repair."

Colorado's new bill, the Consumer Right to Repair Agricultural Equipment Act, requires that agricultural equipment giants like John Deere provide consumers and independent repair shops the parts, embedded software, firmware, tools," and other documents needed to repair increasingly complicated hardware they own:

Starting January 1, 2024, the bill requires a manufacturer to provide parts, embedded software, firmware, tools, or documentation, such as diagnostic, maintenance, or repair manuals, diagrams, or similar information (resources), to independent repair providers and owners of the manufacturer's agricultural equipment to allow an independent repair provider or owner to conduct diagnostic, maintenance, or repair services on the owner's agricultural equipment.

Numerous companies have attempted to monopolize repair by acquiring competitors, suing independent repair shops, implementing annoying DRM, or just generally making it difficult to obtain needed parts, documents, and tools. It's been a problem that has touched numerous sectors, from agricultural and medical equipment to everyday consumer electronics.

John Deere's been one of the worst offenders. The company's draconian repair restrictions on agricultural equipment often result in customers having to pay an arm and a leg, or drive hundreds of additional, costly miles to get their tractors repaired. The company routinely claims to have seen the light and promises to change, only to further double down on its efforts to monopolize repair.

Lobbyists have increasingly been attacking such reform efforts, usually by falsely claiming that cracking down on these companies' attempted repair monopolies would create all manner of privacy and security risks for U.S. consumers. Automakers in Massachusetts went so far recently as to lie and claim the state's right to repair efforts would embolden sexual predators.

Most of the companies keen on monopolizing repair (John Deere, Apple, Verizon, Microsoft, U.S. automakers, U.S. medical equipment makers) have worked tirelessly to ensure any federal legislative solution remains sidelined, despite widespread, bipartisan support for such measures (polls consistently show public support for reform ranging anywhere from 75 to 95 percent).