Editor’s note: This article has been altered from its original form to clarify that Harvey Chorney was speaking as a farmer, rather than in his capacity as strategic advisor at the Prairie Agricultural Machinery Institute (PAMI).
[UPDATED: Jan. 25, 2022] An NDP private member’s bill proposes to give Manitoba farmers and independent mechanics the right to repair their machinery.
Bill 241, if passed, would amend the Farm Machinery Act to compel farm equipment manufacturers to provide “the most recent version” of manuals, parts, software and other tools to diagnose, maintain or repair their farm machinery, and to reset electronic security functions of those disabled during maintenance or repair.
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It would also amend the Consumer Protection Act to add rights to repair for vehicles including off-road vehicles and mobility aids.
Veteran MLA Jim Maloway (Elmwood) brought the bill forward, along with Bill 234, which further amends the Consumer Protection Act to add rights to repair of electronics.
In Bill 241, if the equipment vendor fails to comply, it must replace the machinery or vehicle or refund the owner.
The topic warrants careful consideration, said Harvey Chorney, a farmer and farm machinery expert from the Portage area.
With each major equipment manufacturer using proprietary software and electronics, the acts have become outdated.
“They don’t cover it at all,” Chorney said.
The software in play has caused many headaches for farmers, including Chorney who is involved with his family farm.
Recently their main tillage tractor broke down. They asked a local mechanic, who’d worked for a major company previously, to troubleshoot. His two-year-old diagnostic software couldn’t read the tractor’s error code.
Ultimately, they had to wait for a technician from the dealer.
“And you’re on their schedule,” Chorney said.
Unlike automobiles, farm machinery can’t be diagnosed with a generic diagnostic code reader.
“From the farmer’s perspective, he can no longer go to the local mechanic and someone in the area,” Chorney said. They also can’t do their own repairs.
However, some machinery owners also take things too far, said Chorney.
Some machinery uses software to manage emissions according to regulations, which also keeps the engine from producing its maximum horsepower.
In some cases, owners have found ways to bypass the software to increase horsepower, wrote John Schmeiser in a September 2020 column in the Co-operator. Schmeiser is the CEO of the Western Equipment Dealers Association.
Both Chorney and Schmeiser noted that this can cause damage and even safety issues as, for instance, the cooling system may not be rated to match the higher power output. Schmeiser noted reports of premature engine and transmission failures.
“If you want to make impact here, you have to go ahead and really research this thing to make sure all sides are covered properly,” Chorney said. This means a technical review, not just a political one, he said.
“It needs to be looked at, but it really has to be looked at quite a bit,” he said.
Maloway said he’d read of issues like Chorney’s, in which farmers needed a dealer technician to repair something simple — in the case he cited, to reset a clock.
Farmers “should not be held hostage by the manufacturer for things like just a reset,” he said. “We’re not asking that the farmer’s going to be repairing his own combine. We’re just saying at the end of the day, a repair shop has to be able to get the parts.”
When asked if he expected the Manitoba government to bring big equipment manufacturers to heel, Maloway said, “They have the power to do that, but don’t forget they’re giving the manufacturer a choice.”
“They’re saying provide the parts and the repair manuals to the repair place, and then you’re off the hook,” he said, adding that the law wouldn’t allow farmers to game the system for a new combine.
Maloway called safety and illegal modification objections, “total nonsense.” Repair people must also follow the rules, and he said he expected technicians and shops required certifications to fix or deal with, e.g. John Deere equipment.
Keystone Agricultural Producers members have passed resolutions in 2021 and 2020 regarding the right to repair, including a 2021 resolution that asked KAP to work with the Canadian Federation of Agriculture to lobby the province and federal government to create laws that would guarantee a farmer’s right to repair electronic components in farm machinery.
KAP is planning to meet with Maloway and the provincial government in the spring to discuss these bills, said KAP communications and government relations manager Graham Schellenberg.
*Update: The word ‘vendors’ was changed to ‘manufacturers’ to properly reflect wording in the proposed bill; plus, see editor note at top.
