The Iowa House has overwhelmingly approved a bill that would give Iowans a clear right to repair their farm equipment. The bill would require manufacturers to make parts, software and the tools to make repairs on farm equipment available to the owner of the implement at fair and reasonable terms or costs. The bill also would ensure the data collected by a combine, for example, can’t be sold by the manufacturer to other businesses that might impose surveillance pricing. Bill backers say with that harvest data, a company could figure out which farmers could afford to pay more for seeds or fertilizer.
