torchrider
Member
New High-Tech Farm Equipment Is a Nightmare for Farmers | WIRED
Please excuse the formatting.
I squatted down in the dirt and took stock of my inadequate tools. Over my left shoulder a massive John Deere tractor loomed. I came here to fix that tractor. So far, things weren稚 going as planned.
I知 a computer programmer by training, and a repairman by trade. Ten years ago, I started iFixit, an online, DIY community that teaches people to repair what they own. Repair is what I do, and that I was being rebuffed by a tractor was incredibly frustrating.
I tossed my wrenches and screwdrivers. The conventional tools of my trade had no power here. This job called for something different. Armed with wire, alligator clips, a handful of connectors, and a CANbus reader, I launched myself back into the cab of the tractor. Once more into the breach, dear friends!
The family farmer who owns this tractor is a friend of mine. He just wanted a better way to fix a minor hydraulic sensor. Every time the sensor blew, the onboard computer would shut the tractor down. It takes a technician at least two days to order the part, get out to the farm, and swap out the sensor. So for two days, Dave痴 tractor lies fallow. And so do his fields.
Dave asked me if there was some way to bypass a bum sensor while waiting for the repairman to show up. But fixing Dave痴 sensor problem required fiddling around in the tractor痴 highly proprietary computer system葉he tractor痴 engine control unit (tECU): the brains behind the agricultural beast.
One hour later, I hopped back out of the cab of the tractor. Defeated. I was unable to breach the wall of proprietary defenses that protected the tECU like a fortress. I couldn稚 even connect to the computer. Because John Deere says I can稚.
Farming Goes High Tech
Dave is a DIY kind of guy. But Dave would like to do more than just change his tractor痴 oil. He壇 like to be able to modify the engine timing. He壇 like to harvest the information that his tractor collects to learn more about how his crops grow. He壇 like to troubleshoot error codes. Most of all, he壇 like to be able to repair his equipment himself*ecause it痴 what he痴 been doing all his life.
In the tech industry, we tend to talk about the exploding Maker Movement as if tinkering is something new. In fact, it痴 as old as dirt: farmers have been making, building, rebuilding, hacking, and tinkering with their equipment since chickens were feral. I致e seen farmers do with rusty harvesters and old welders what modern Makers do with Raspberry Pis and breadboards. There痴 even a crowdsourced magazine, Farm Show, that痴 catalogued thousands of clever farming inventions over the past three decades.
Of course, the world is changing, and that痴 especially true in the world of agriculture. Most problems can稚 be solved with duct tape and baling wire anymore. Regulations are stricter, agribusiness is more consolidated, resources are more scarce, and equipment is infinitely more complicated and proprietary. Small family farmers like Dave face challenges that even the most industrious Maker would find hard to 塗ack.
What used to be done by hand is now managed at scale by giant machine. And that equipment is expensive容quivalent to the price of a small house (Dave痴 mid-ranged tractor is worth over $100,000). New, elaborate computer systems afford the kind of precision and predictability that farmers 20 years ago couldn稚 have even imagined. But they致e also introduced new problems.
High-Tech Tractors Are Increasingly a Liability
Aside from using it, there痴 not much you can do with modern ag equipment. When it breaks or needs maintenance, farmers are dependent on dealers and manufacturer technicians* hard pill to swallow for farmers, who have been maintaining their own equipment since the plow.
甜DIY repair] is cheaper than calling out the technician. But that information is just not out there, Dave explained to me.
The cost and hassle of repairing modern tractors has soured a lot of farmers on computerized systems altogether. In a September issue of Farm Journal, farm auction expert Greg Peterson noted that demand for newer tractors was falling. Tellingly, the price of and demand for older tractors (without all the digital bells and whistles) has picked up. *s for the simplicity, you致e all heard the chatter, Machinery Pete wrote. 典here痴 an increasing number of farmers placing greater value on acquiring older simpler machines that don稚 require a computer to fix.
The problem is that farmers are essentially driving around a giant black box outfitted with harvesting blades. Only manufacturers have the keys to those boxes. Different connectors are needed from brand to brand, sometimes even from model to model曜ust to talk to the tECU. Modifications and troubleshooting require diagnostic software that farmers can稚 have. Even if a farmer managed to get the right software, calibrations to the tECU sometimes require a factory password. No password, no changes溶ot without the permission of the manufacturer.
John Deere, in particular, has been incredibly effective at limiting access to its diagnostic software. Which is why I wouldn稚 have been able to tweak the programming on Dave痴 tractor, even if I had been able to hack together the right interface. John Deere doesn稚 want me to. The dealer-repair game is just too lucrative for manufacturers to cede any control back to farmers.
Hacking the Family Farm
After a second swear-word-inducing attempt to monkey around in the code that fuels Dave痴 computer, I started wondering how other farmers were dealing with the increasingly cloaked and proprietary nature of modern farming.
My failure with Dave痴 tractor got me fired up. I started lurking in ag forums, talking to my farmer friends, and hanging out in diesel repair shops. I found out that farmers aren稚 taking the limitations lying down. There痴 a thriving grey-market for diagnostic equipment and proprietary connectors. Some farmers have even managed to get their hands on the software they need to re-calibrate and repair equipment on their own* laptop purchased from some nameless friend-of-a-friend with the software already loaded on it. There are even ways to get around the factory passwords that block access to the tECU to effect repairs.
Please excuse the formatting.
I squatted down in the dirt and took stock of my inadequate tools. Over my left shoulder a massive John Deere tractor loomed. I came here to fix that tractor. So far, things weren稚 going as planned.
I知 a computer programmer by training, and a repairman by trade. Ten years ago, I started iFixit, an online, DIY community that teaches people to repair what they own. Repair is what I do, and that I was being rebuffed by a tractor was incredibly frustrating.
I tossed my wrenches and screwdrivers. The conventional tools of my trade had no power here. This job called for something different. Armed with wire, alligator clips, a handful of connectors, and a CANbus reader, I launched myself back into the cab of the tractor. Once more into the breach, dear friends!
The family farmer who owns this tractor is a friend of mine. He just wanted a better way to fix a minor hydraulic sensor. Every time the sensor blew, the onboard computer would shut the tractor down. It takes a technician at least two days to order the part, get out to the farm, and swap out the sensor. So for two days, Dave痴 tractor lies fallow. And so do his fields.
Dave asked me if there was some way to bypass a bum sensor while waiting for the repairman to show up. But fixing Dave痴 sensor problem required fiddling around in the tractor痴 highly proprietary computer system葉he tractor痴 engine control unit (tECU): the brains behind the agricultural beast.
One hour later, I hopped back out of the cab of the tractor. Defeated. I was unable to breach the wall of proprietary defenses that protected the tECU like a fortress. I couldn稚 even connect to the computer. Because John Deere says I can稚.
Farming Goes High Tech
Dave is a DIY kind of guy. But Dave would like to do more than just change his tractor痴 oil. He壇 like to be able to modify the engine timing. He壇 like to harvest the information that his tractor collects to learn more about how his crops grow. He壇 like to troubleshoot error codes. Most of all, he壇 like to be able to repair his equipment himself*ecause it痴 what he痴 been doing all his life.
In the tech industry, we tend to talk about the exploding Maker Movement as if tinkering is something new. In fact, it痴 as old as dirt: farmers have been making, building, rebuilding, hacking, and tinkering with their equipment since chickens were feral. I致e seen farmers do with rusty harvesters and old welders what modern Makers do with Raspberry Pis and breadboards. There痴 even a crowdsourced magazine, Farm Show, that痴 catalogued thousands of clever farming inventions over the past three decades.
Of course, the world is changing, and that痴 especially true in the world of agriculture. Most problems can稚 be solved with duct tape and baling wire anymore. Regulations are stricter, agribusiness is more consolidated, resources are more scarce, and equipment is infinitely more complicated and proprietary. Small family farmers like Dave face challenges that even the most industrious Maker would find hard to 塗ack.
What used to be done by hand is now managed at scale by giant machine. And that equipment is expensive容quivalent to the price of a small house (Dave痴 mid-ranged tractor is worth over $100,000). New, elaborate computer systems afford the kind of precision and predictability that farmers 20 years ago couldn稚 have even imagined. But they致e also introduced new problems.
High-Tech Tractors Are Increasingly a Liability
Aside from using it, there痴 not much you can do with modern ag equipment. When it breaks or needs maintenance, farmers are dependent on dealers and manufacturer technicians* hard pill to swallow for farmers, who have been maintaining their own equipment since the plow.
甜DIY repair] is cheaper than calling out the technician. But that information is just not out there, Dave explained to me.
The cost and hassle of repairing modern tractors has soured a lot of farmers on computerized systems altogether. In a September issue of Farm Journal, farm auction expert Greg Peterson noted that demand for newer tractors was falling. Tellingly, the price of and demand for older tractors (without all the digital bells and whistles) has picked up. *s for the simplicity, you致e all heard the chatter, Machinery Pete wrote. 典here痴 an increasing number of farmers placing greater value on acquiring older simpler machines that don稚 require a computer to fix.
The problem is that farmers are essentially driving around a giant black box outfitted with harvesting blades. Only manufacturers have the keys to those boxes. Different connectors are needed from brand to brand, sometimes even from model to model曜ust to talk to the tECU. Modifications and troubleshooting require diagnostic software that farmers can稚 have. Even if a farmer managed to get the right software, calibrations to the tECU sometimes require a factory password. No password, no changes溶ot without the permission of the manufacturer.
John Deere, in particular, has been incredibly effective at limiting access to its diagnostic software. Which is why I wouldn稚 have been able to tweak the programming on Dave痴 tractor, even if I had been able to hack together the right interface. John Deere doesn稚 want me to. The dealer-repair game is just too lucrative for manufacturers to cede any control back to farmers.
Hacking the Family Farm
After a second swear-word-inducing attempt to monkey around in the code that fuels Dave痴 computer, I started wondering how other farmers were dealing with the increasingly cloaked and proprietary nature of modern farming.
My failure with Dave痴 tractor got me fired up. I started lurking in ag forums, talking to my farmer friends, and hanging out in diesel repair shops. I found out that farmers aren稚 taking the limitations lying down. There痴 a thriving grey-market for diagnostic equipment and proprietary connectors. Some farmers have even managed to get their hands on the software they need to re-calibrate and repair equipment on their own* laptop purchased from some nameless friend-of-a-friend with the software already loaded on it. There are even ways to get around the factory passwords that block access to the tECU to effect repairs.
