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The 'right to repair' movement has finally bent the ear of Australia's competition and consumer watchdog, the ACCC, in its pleas to be able to fix their own farm equipment.
Key points:
- The humble tractor is now among the most sophisticated machines on the planet
- Farmers from America to Australia complain about software in expensive farm machinery that must use authorised repairers to fix problems
- The ACCC has already spoken to the five major importers or manufacturers of large-scale farm machinery, now it's seeking input from farmers
An ACCC inquiry will examine whether international tractor manufacturers are failing Australian farmers who want access to software tools and parts to repair their own machinery.
Farmers in places as far-flung as America's Midwest to Australia's grain belts are complaining about an increasing technological burden being thrust upon them — software malfunctions that can leave $800,000 pieces of farm machinery sitting idle in paddocks.
Farm machinery owners must then wait for authorised repairers to fix the problem.
"Perhaps in part because of that earlier concern … we initiated an inquiry," said Australian Competition and Consumer Commission deputy chair Mick Keogh.
"We've spoken to the five major importers or manufacturers of large-scale farm machinery that operate in Australia and got a lot of information from them. We're now interested in hearing a fair bit more detail from farmers."
Farmers have emerged as an unlikely force in the global right to repair movement.
The movement eschews the disposable culture of consumer electronics in favour of letting independent repairers and home tinkerers fix broken smartphones, tablets, and laptops.
Proponents want access to the code that makes modern machines hum, putting them at loggerheads with tech giants including Apple who own the proprietary software.
In the United States, farmers have risked voiding their warranties by hacking their own John Deere tractors with torrented software so they can carry out their own repairs.
Farms 'an area of some contention'
In its first deep dive into the modern agricultural machinery market, the ACCC published its discussion paper on the matter in late February and is seeking accounts from those who buy and use farm machinery, or repair it for a living.
"Broadacre croppers with large tractors, harvesters, seeders … and particularly tractors seem to be an area of some contention," Mr Keogh said.
"We have heard from dealers who say that they have no issues with providing service, yet we hear from independent service providers that they can't get access to the [software] diagnostic tools they need.
"In some cases they can't get access to the [manufacturers'] parts they need.
"Our concern is we want to ensure that competition is working, particularly in relation to issues like servicing. Otherwise, of course, we're just operating with regionalised monopolies."
Devil in the data
Perth based lawyer Luke O'Callaghan, who specialises in competition and consumer protection matters, said one of the more interesting focuses of the inquiry was the question of who owned information collected on private farms with protected software.
The humble tractor is now among the most sophisticated machines on the planet.
In an era of water scarcity and a swelling global population, machinery makers have poured millions of dollars into developing software that allows farmers to precisely plot their sprawling properties, gauging how much seed, water, fertiliser, and pesticide is needed for maximum crop yields for each field.
Mr O'Callaghan says this could potentially leave farmers stuck if they decided they wanted to buy a different brand of tractor but could not take a backup of the old data with them.
"One of the things [the ACCC] flagged is that intellectual property and data can be two separate things," he said.
"Because of the fact they can't shift their historical data to a new provider … then you can be in an invidious position where you get locked in over a period of time.
"And arguably that means new competitors to those existing tractor manufacturers will have a very hard time [competing] no matter how much they discount their prices."
Describing the inquiry as a "fact-finding" expedition, Mr O'Callaghan said farmers had no reason to be wary that Australia's consumer watchdog could do little to the international Goliaths that dominate the machinery market.
"If a foreign company does business in Australia then they'll be caught by the Competition and Consumer Act provisions," he said.
"It's absolutely the case that even if these are foreign-owned companies, if they're doing business here they're going to be subject to these laws.
"What might be happening is two things — one is [for the ACCC] to work out are there things in this sector that are breaking laws?
"If so, then [looking at how they can] use their powers to prevent that from occurring.
"And the second is even if [the ACCC] don't find everything … [they've] put you on notice."
Public submissions to the inquiry close on Wednesday.
Topics: rural, sustainable-and-alternative-farming, consumer-protection, business-economics-and-finance, information-technology, science-and-technology, albany-6330, bunbury-6230, perth-6000, wa, canberra-2600, sydney-2000
First posted