Joe Biden may be the clear leader in the race to win the Democratic nomination, but Bernie Sanders isn’t out just yet. His continued legitimacy throughout the presidential primary race has sounded alarms not just for Republicans, but for mainstream, moderate Democrats. Why? One look at some of his policy positions and it’s pretty clear. From his praise of notorious communist dictator Fidel Castro, to his $60 trillion agenda, his policy proposals are viewed by many on his own side of the aisle as extreme and radical.
While Sanders’ stances on things like healthcare, taxes, and defense spending might be soaking up all the headlines, there are other issues he endorses that are equally as troubling, especially to farmers like me. Buried in his policy platform is support for a national “right to repair” policy. So far, so-called “right to repair” or “fair repair” bills have only been brought up at the state level and have failed to pass in every state, regardless of the political party in charge. That’s because this policy, despite how nice it sounds, is misleading and would actually do more harm than good for the agriculture community.
“Right to repair” bills aren’t actually about the right to repair equipment — it’s already legal for farmers to repair their equipment and it’s their right to maintain their tractors, combines, and other farming gear. But special interest groups are taking advantage of farmers in order to get access to code. They want to gain unfettered access to the equipment’s technology, which isn’t necessary for equipment owners to perform most maintenance and repair tasks. This policy would give bad actors a loophole by making their nefarious activities, like stealing and modifying embedded code, legal.
This would have all kinds of negative consequences for farmers and the agriculture community as a whole. These illegal modifications would undermine the equipment’s safety and emissions controls, and reduce durability, reliability and resale value. It will also shorten the equipment’s lifespan, putting at risk the hundreds of thousands of dollars that farmers and ranchers invest in their machinery.
It’s clear that “right to repair” advocates are exploiting a false narrative to further their agenda. Maybe that is why every state that has previously introduced “right to repair” bills failed to pass the legislation. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in leading agriculture states from Iowa to New York, and in my own state of North Dakota, were not fooled by the hidden intentions of overly broad "right to repair" bills, especially at the expense of hard-working farmers and ranchers.
Modern-era technology allows farmers to operate more efficiently by better utilizing their resources. Innovative technology, like precision agriculture, is intended to improve the livelihood of farmers and ranchers. The farming industry has changed dramatically for the better over the past few decades, thanks in part, to investments in new technologies.
Bernie Sanders clearly does not understand this, and has decided to embrace another fringe, unpopular policy that will hurt the people he’s trying to support. Allowing bad actors to tamper with and have access to equipment’s embedded code undermines the hard-work manufacturers put into providing the latest high-tech features to make farmers’ lives better.
The U.S. agriculture industry will only continue to thrive if smart policies are in place to foster new innovative ideas, which means our politicians — at the state and national level — should stay away from “right to repair” bills.
Representative Craig Johnson (R) serves North Dakota’s 6th district and is a farmer and rancher from Maxbass, North Dakota.
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