The Agricultural Producers Association of Saskatchewan was asked to testify in a meeting of the standing committee on industry and technology Dec 5.
The meeting was held in relation to the proposed C-244 bill, allowing everybody to have access to manufacturer tools, procedures on repairing software and parts.
“As long as there’s been farmers, they’ve had the ability to fix their equipment and they need to be able to continue to do so,” said APAS President Ian Boxall. “Whether that be the ability to buy diagnostic equipment so that they can diagnose, maintain and service their equipment.”
Boxall expressed numerous issues regarding the current state of farmers repairing their own equipment. The major concern was time management. Boxall says farming in Saskatchewan is extremely time-sensitive, and equipment going down could be detrimental to a producer’s crop. “We lose one day during seeding or harvest or any other critical time and that’s dollars in the farmers’ pocket. That’s lost quantity, quality and money.”
Most problems that come up with newer tractors and other pieces of equipment can only be diagnosed by a laptop owned by the manufacturer. The laptop will receive a code, telling them what’s wrong, then the farmer will have a choice to make: buy the necessary parts to fix the issue and install the part themselves or buy the part and have a mechanic fix it. Both options could take time that farmers don’t have.
“On the service side I’ve heard stories of two days,” adds Boxall. “Two days in harvest during combining is a big deal.”
APAS wants the bill to protect the rights of producers to maintain and service their equipment and give options for third-party services.
One of the biggest concerns addressed at the committee meeting was the degree of tampering manufacturers had observed from farmers. Manufacturers say that one-third of equipment that was dropped off at dealership shops for repair had been tinkered with. The two main changes were on the machines’ diesel emissions system and the tractor having extra horsepower added to it.
The North American Equipment Dealers Association (NAEDA), which advocates for manufacturers, says they are not against the farmers’ right to repair, but they have issues with how the bill is written in its current form.
NAEDA thinks the farming industry should be exempt from this bill. According to NAEDA President John Schmeiser, the bill was initially introduced for electronics and household appliances, but farming equipment was brought into the mix over time.
“Customers are able to access all the tools they need to repair their own equipment,” says Schmeiser. “Amending the copyright act does bring in a whole bunch of unintended consequences.”
Schmeiser says NAEDA is opposed to the bill. One of the association’s biggest concerns is tampering. Schmeiser feels if producers were given the rights to the software in their equipment, they could tamper with more than just horsepower and emissions.
“If you have access to the software, you can increase the speed of a tractor of up to 70 kilometers per hour, even though the brakes aren’t designed to handle 70 kilometers per hour.”
One farmer feels that argument is null.
Jeremy Welter has been farming in west central Saskatchewan for most of his life. He has an issue with manufacturers’ focus on tampering with diesel emissions. “My question is why do the dealerships sell tools and technologies that can be installed in a tractor to do that exact thing?”
Welter believes the manufacturers’ stance on the bill is driven by their own financial gains.
“Is this a concern over safety and warranty or is this a concern over the economics and your ability to charge something that farmers have access to and can do themselves?”
The committee’s study on the bill is now concluded. APAS will be making a submission in the new year to the government to voice its support for farmers’ right to repair their farm equipment.
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