Demand Is Booming for New No Tech, Repairable Tractor

https://www.404media.co/demand-is-booming-for-ursa-ag-new-no-tech-repairable-tractor/

by jay_kyburz • 2 months ago

80 26 2 months ago

jqpabc1232• 2 months ago

John Deere’s repair monopoly

I's not the technology itself that they object to --- it's the fact that it is being used (patents, DMCA, etc.) to rape them on repairs.

john01dav• 2 months ago

While this is true, for many customers who aren't technical (in a computer sense, since they may have significant highly technical expertise in another field, such as agriculture), "tech" (meaning computers) just means what we'd call anti-features since from their vantage point everything with a computer (or with "tech") isn't respecting their ownership rights. And, even among people who understand the distinction, there's a reasonable expectation that computers embedded in products that don't specifically market otherwise will have such anti-features.

So, even if computers in and of themselves are completely valid in such product categories saying "No Tech" (which means "no computers") is a great way to market to people who really just want to avoid anti-ownership anti-features.

Lastly, I find it mildly amusing that a tractor (which is very clearly a form of technology, in the traditional definition of the word where fire and printing presses are technology too) is now being marketed as having no technology.

jwsteigerwalt• 2 months ago

Farmers are not anti-technology, they are against technology that locks them out.

cowanon772• 2 months ago

The problem is computer technology in its current state is fundamentally hard to trust. Without reading the source code and knowing the full source of all external services, and hoping the terms of service or external source code don’t change in the future, you really can’t trust anything. There is no authority that can guarantee “this will always work until it physically breaks, and even then be repairable”. Conventional parts and circuits can be more easily repaired and even reverse engineered if needed.

orbital-decay2• 2 months ago

That's why you trust (or don't) the company behind the product, not the product itself. John Deere ruined their reputation for their business practices, not for using the automation.

bsder• 2 months ago

The issue that breaks the camel's back isn't just the cost of the repair--it's that farmers can't find enough service people during harvest time.

The timeliness of the repair is more important than anything at harvest time. Farmers have to be able to repair their own equipment or risk suffering an egregiously expensive loss.

jqpabc1232• 2 months ago

it's that farmers can't find enough service people during harvest time.

Which is directly related to the restrictions and cost of repairs.

snypher• 2 months ago

they went out and bought machinery from 1987 so that it wouldn’t have a computer on it

That's fine and all but Deere still carries parts for that 1987 tractor, so you can keep it running. Ursa will probably be gone in 10 years?; it doesn't matter how mechanical the system is if you can't get new parts anyways.

anon7000• 2 months ago

Other people can start manufacturing the parts if the demand is big enough and the designs are available or can be reverse engineered.

Not familiar with this world, but they could use relatively standard, widely used parts to build the tractor. For example, Yanmar engines are widely used in the marine world. The engine choice is abstracted away from the boat (for certain types of boats) and you don’t rely on the boat manufacturer sticking around. Everything can be retrofitted.

broknbottle• 2 months ago

I worked at the Henry Ford / Greenfield Village. They have a fleet of historical vehicles (Model T, Model AA, etc) and mechanics that are very passionate about the vehicles. They buy used and get whatever they can’t source made.

cjrp• 2 months ago

Ursa will probably be gone in 10 years

Or worse, absorbed by one of the big manufacturers.

1970-01-01• 2 months ago

Metal 3D printers are getting cheaper by the year. We're not far from downloading parts and printing them out at home.

digitaltrees• 1 month ago

Cuba kept US cars from the 1950 running. And with 3d printing, AI, and enough demand this might get easier.

crabmusket2• 2 months ago

I'd love to see an Oxide Computer Company but for tractors. Open source firmware and tooling, but in this case the design would have to focus on repairability, transparency, and use of easily replaceable components for compute and sensors, similar to how the mechanical components are chosen.

Oxide goes to great lengths to allow you to own your servers and operate them in an airgapped environment. Could a tractor be built to operate airgapped even with onboard tech? Or to be able to connect to a local base station over e.g. LoRaWAN instead of the cloud?

rcxdude• 2 months ago

There's no fundemental reason even a very fancy trsctor should need an Internet connection. Even with RTK GPS for ultra high precision positioning, you can operate a base station locally, and this is getting increasingly accessible. (You could do it as a hobbyist for about $400 worth of parts).

mohamedkoubaa• 2 months ago

A single server rack in the back of the barn could run all compute even the most technologically advanced mega farm would ever need. No need for Internet

randycupertino• 2 months ago

Now do a no-tech highest quality repairable washing machine, no tech high-quality repairable refrigerator and no tech high quality HVAC!!

general14652• 2 months ago

It is called industrial appliances, it costs fortune but will probably work forever with proper maintenance.

general14652• 2 months ago

You can look into Eastern Europe - i.e. Zetor is building relatively low tech tractors, but importing something like this into USA is going to be a pain

lifestyleguru• 2 months ago

You can look into Eastern Europe

Looks at Eastern Europe [1]

[1] https://i.iplsc.com/000HE4JV5MOLXWPW-C124.webp

num42• 2 months ago

After reading the title, it reminded me of a high-tech bolt. I thought people were making even bolts more complicated, gradually finding ways to monetize them by integrating ads or unnecessary technology. Even bolts are becoming harder to use. It’s surprising to see that tractors are becoming less tech heavy now, as people prefer more usable and easy-to-repair technology again. MAKE ANALOG GREAT AGAIN(MAGA)!

SMART BOLT TECHNOLOGY:

https://smartbolts.com/

https://imbu.nl/projects/smartbolt/

euroderf• 2 months ago

Remember tho that space programs use explosive bolts that are hardly dumb !

Ancalagon• 2 months ago

Did they integrate a torque measurements into the bolt?

Demand Is Booming for New No Tech, Repairable Tractor

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