‘We’ve been dumbed-down’: Australian farmers want the right to repair their own tractors again

Right to repair laws could boost agricultural productivity by $97m by removing costly and time-consuming trips to fix machinery issues, lobbyists say

Seventy-five years ago, the grey Fergie tractor was the backbone of Australian farming. If it stopped running, farmers like Martin Honner – who runs a 1,100ha mixed livestock and cropping farm near Junee in the New South Wales Riverina region – would roll up their sleeves, tinker away, maybe smack it with a hammer and off it would go again.

Like most farmers, Honner is a capable mechanic and his two sons are industry-trained with agricultural machinery from major manufacturers like John Deere and CASE.

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