The Latest Repair Battlefield Is the Iowa Farmlands—Again

Iowa lawmakers voted to beforehand authorities House measure 751 past week, authorities that would guarantee farmers successful the authorities tin freely repair their ain cultivation equipment, similar tractors. This Tuesday, the measure was renamed to House File 2709 and volition beryllium voted connected again. Should the governmental winds align, it volition spell done the Iowa House and Senate earlier the Iowa legislature adjourns connected April 21.

The measure is the archetypal of astir 57 authorities bills supported by repair advocates crossed the state successful 2026. Many of them absorption connected workplace instrumentality successful states similar Oklahoma, Wyoming, Delaware, and West Virginia. Repair advocates anticipation a triumph successful Iowa—the second-highest-grossing authorities successful the US for cultivation products, down California—will assistance further legislative and broader efforts to marque phones, cars, and different devices much repairable.

“This isn't conscionable a bluish authorities thing; this isn't conscionable a Colorado activistic thing,” says Elizabeth Chamberlain, manager of sustainability for the right-to-repair advocator limb of iFixit. “Its real. Farmers person occupation repairing their instrumentality and privation change.”

Farmers and their tractors person agelong been a focal constituent of the right-to-repair movement, the ever-growing planetary effort to fto merchandise owners hole their ain devices and instrumentality without shaper approval. Farmers who usage tractors to plant, cultivate, and harvest crops often request to repair their instrumentality portion they work. Waiting for shaper support to get thing fixed, oregon taking the clip to bring the instrumentality to an approved dealership, tin origin delays, frustration, and missed opportunities to harvest crops.

The Iowa measure defines which cultivation instrumentality it covers, including tractors, trailers, combines, sprayers, balers, and different instrumentality utilized to cultivate and harvest crops. It excludes craft and irrigation equipment, on with pitchy skis and snowmobiles.

Manufacturers would besides beryllium required to supply owners with data—documentation, similar manuals, and entree to embedded operating software—on their tractors, including aboriginal patches and fixes, each without charging for it oregon requiring authorization for net access. The measure besides limits the usage of integer locks—software restrictions that forestall accessing features without shaper approval.

Oh Deere

The astir salient absorption to the Iowa measure is tractor shaper John Deere, which has a agelong past of opposing repair efforts and frustrating framers who privation to instrumentality much power of their equipment. The institution is inactive warring a suit the US Federal Trade Commission levied against John Deere successful January 2025 for “unlawful” repairability policies. The institution has lobbied against the Iowa measure and outright opposes its passing.

“John Deere is steadfast successful supporting farmers' quality to repair their equipment,” wrote a John Deere typical successful a connection responding to WIRED’s inquiry. “And we backmost that up by offering industry-leading self-repair tools and resources to some instrumentality owners and alternate work providers.”

John Deere points to its online repair hub that catalogs ways its merchandise owners tin repair their products. Chamberlain says it is existent that John Deere offers self-repair options, but they are not ever successful enactment with the world of what farmers request to marque fixes successful the moment.

“Ultimately, it doesn’t substance if the immense bulk of repairs are imaginable if there’s a repair that takes your instrumentality down and that means nonaccomplishment of harvest oregon having to hold weeks for a trader typical to travel out,” Chamberlain says.

John Deere has said it supports third-party and self-repair of its instrumentality before. In 2023, John Deere and the American Farm Bureau agreed to a memorandum of knowing astir however the institution would let entree to repairs connected its products successful effect to repair laws passing successful states similar Colorado. But repair advocates criticized the move, saying the memorandum did small to marque John Deere adhere to caller regulations.