AFBF Agrees to Right to Repair MOU with Case IH and New Holland
Chad Smith
Associate News Service Editor, NAFB
Sam Kieffer
Vice President, Public Policy
photo credit: United Soybean Board / CC BY 2.0
The American Farm Bureau Federation signed another agreement with an agricultural manufacturer on right to repair. Chad Smith has more on the MOU with CNH Industries.
Smith: A new Memorandum of Understanding between the American Farm Bureau Federation, Case IH, and New Holland provides farmers and ranchers the right to repair their own farm equipment. Sam Kieffer, vice president of public policy for the American Farm Bureau, talks about how the agreement will benefit U.S. farmers and ranchers.
Kieffer: This agreement follows a previous agreement with John Deere that now represents more than half of the farm market share in the United States. And combined, these agreements ensure that farmers have the right to repair their own equipment, either individually or through independent repair shops, by giving them assurances to have access to the diagnostic codes and what they mean, specialty tools, parts, information, manuals, and things of that nature.
Smith: Kieffer says the memorandum with Case IH and New Holland is similar to the one with John Deere.
Kieffer: In focusing on making sure that individuals have the right to repair their equipment as well as the opportunity to lean on a trusted advisor, be it in an independent repair shop, to make those repairs for them.
Smith: He talks about the next steps in moving forward with Case IH, Deere, and potentially other manufacturers.
Kieffer: As the conversations continue with Case and with John Deere, we will be interacting, as an organization, on behalf of our members with the manufacturers. The agreement indicates that we'll be meeting regularly, at least bi-annually, to discuss how it's going and the experiences of our members. And as technology emerges and there's new capabilities and challenges, we'll be discussing those and identifying if we need to improve or tweak specific items within the MOU. And we will continue to engage in conversations with other manufacturers on behalf of our members.
Smith: For more information on the MOU, go to fb.org. Chad Smith, Washington.
