The Importance of the Right to Repair Movement in Farming
- Rotate8
- Jun 6
- 2 min read
At Rotate8, we’re proud to support the Right to Repair movement, where modularity and repairability are fundamental to our mission and design. We believe that when farmers buy equipment, they should be able to maintain, repair, and customize it as needed.
As technology grows more advanced in some ways, it has become increasingly difficult for consumers to fix their own products. Proprietary design and a decreasing ability to purchase the correct spare parts prevent consumers from having control over their equipment.
Sometimes this shift towards lack of repairability is an oversight; engineers design for their manufacturing lines, keep costs down, and focus on other aspects of the product. Sometimes, the lack of repairability is more nefarious - planned obsolescence to make consumers continue to purchase the newest version of their tech, or profiting from repair centers with licensed technicians and proprietary repair manuals and code scanners. Independent repair shops often no longer have the same access to parts or information, and thus these companies effectively eliminate competition, allowing them to upcharge their customers when repairs are needed.
Limiting the Right to Repair also has environmental implications, as consumers find themselves having to purchase entirely new products rather than only having to buy specific replacement parts. Electronics waste is a mounting concern, as recycling options are limited.
Legislation is popping up around the country to tackle the Right to Repair. The California Right to Repair Act, passed in 2023, applies to consumer devices that rely on microchips, but has certain exclusions such as farming machinery. Arguably, farmers need the Right to Repair most, and are capable of doing the work. If a tractor breaks down in the middle of the season, growers don’t have the time (and often resources) to send their equipment to a dealer and wait months for it to be fixed. Farmers are the original engineers, always hacking on their equipment to make it fit their needs and making repairs as soon as issues arise; we should be empowering and celebrating that spirit, not limiting it to further increase profits at the expense of users.
We at Rotate8 are a part of the solution. We prioritize open source and encourage farmers to repair and modify our tech. Full documentation of our mechanical design is released to our customers, with all parts either being easily accessible as off the shelf components or manufacturable in a standard machine shop. Our equipment is extremely modular and easy to fit to a farm’s unique needs. We recognize that farmers are resourceful by necessity, and we empower them to do just that.
Join the Right to Repair movement with us at Rotate8!
Resources for reading more about the movement and your state’s rights:
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