Over the past few years, the U.S. saw record-breaking inflation in all areas of the economy. Farmers face additional financial strain when it comes to repairing equipment used to produce soybeans and corn, the nation’s two most widely grown crops. The costs of parts and labor for agriculture machines and equipment has nearly doubled in the past two decades, and spiked by 41% since 2020 alone, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Farm machinery is listed along with construction and mining equipment.
In addition to inflation, farmers lose an average of $3,348 per year to repair downtime and restrictions from equipment manufacturers that limit their ability to fix equipment, according to a 2023 study by the Public Interest Research Group.
Due to changing emission standards and a revolution in technologizing farm equipment, tractors and combines produced after 2014 have newer software not seen in prior models. With the newer machines, farmers and independent mechanics have limited access to the software and commands they need to diagnose and troubleshoot issues in their tractors, which results in long wait times to get their equipment fixed and a hefty bill, according to PIRG.
According to PIRG, the machines are engineered in order to limit repair choices. The survey of 53 farmers in 14 states estimates that if every farmer in the country faced similar losses, repair restrictions placed on farmers would cost U.S. producers more than $3 billion a year.
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