Devils Advocate time: John Deere spent millions and millions of dollars on the development of the electronic systems in their tractors that provide previously inconceivable up times. The level of system integration in modern tractors is amazing: simply plug in and pay your subscription and the tractor will tell you how to get the best yields, the highest production rates and the best application of everything from fertilizer to seed. Your tractor will talk to your seeder and sprayer and get near perfect application of both at the same time. Yields in the US commercial farming sector have never been higher. JD can diagnose and effect repair of your tractor without ever having to come to your farm. If they log into your tractor, they can see what's wrong and have a part and technician on the way to your farm. They can also monitor performance and tell you something is strating to go, before its broke so you can keep working. All of those tractors are sensors that report that data back to JD so they can adjust the algorithms to achieve even better yields. They can also adjust the tractors engine management to get a particular farmer the best fuel utilization for the exact way he uses the tractor. Nearly all of the people who seem to have issue with this type of automation/system integration are a class of farmers stuck in the middle: They aren't big enough to be big ag, and they're not small guys like us with a hobby tractor and 8-20 acres. I have a friend with a real farm in Minnesota and his statement was "you have a lawn mower (I have a
L6060 by the way), tractors start at 100HP" So, the people who wrote the article are trying to villanize JD for trying to recoup their cost on system development and integration that provides a buyer with the best running tractors on the planet? Those same folks hacking their tractors will complain loudly when JD says hey we cant log into your tractor to diagnose it because you hacked it. By the way this seems to be
an American phenomenon, Fendt and Lamborghini commercial ag has nearly the same levels of automation and integration and the Europeans aren't up in arms. This is a capitalistic country and Id have to say that if this was truly a big issue, JD wouldn't still be the biggest AG tractor seller in America. People want the ease of use and cost/acre that JD is providing but then they want to complain about how to get it? Theres a bunch of Indian and Chinese stuff you can get, lets see what your cost per acre does with those...