Quote:
Originally Posted by Mercury Bullet
Thanks for posting this. I heard about it yesterday on the Abc.
This is really important. Any farmer here will know exactly what is going on.
Tractors, headers, sprayers etc have moved to electronic control just as rapidly as their road going brethren. With one big difference. The manufacturers have been allowed to "lock down" the electronics with no ability to get information on any of it.
Now if we have a breakdown we are pretty much obliged to call a dealer network mechanic onto the property. Strictly speaking we can't touch any equipment anymore and servicing yourself has pretty much gone out the window.
A year ago we lost a pto on a tractor, it spent the next 6 months in the shed as a simple problem like that couldn't be fixed.
People are fighting to have these restrictions removed and it's a nasty fight. Manufacturers basically own our machinery that we pay millions of dollars to purchase.
I suggest everyone contact their mp to register their displeasure. A phone call should suffice.
|
Can you get away with using older, non "black boxed" machinery? Last time I did harvest was many years ago and it was for the most mechanical with a shed load of belts and pulleys. Why pay millions for equipment if you essentially don't have the liberty to fix it?