Midwest farmers aren't allowed to fix their own tractors. And many right-to-repair bills are...

Farmers and ranchers across the Midwest say regulation is the only path forward to fixing their own equipment. But there’s been strong opposition to right to repair legislation, as manufacturers argue they’ve provided pathways for quick repairs.
It’s 2 a.m. and Clint Stoutenburg has been planting sugar beets on his family farm in eastern lower Michigan for 18 hours.

But a transmission code lights up and locks his John Deere planter at a fixed speed. Stoutenburg doesn’t know how to fix the software problem and the dealership isn’t open.

It’s supposed to rain in an hour. He needs to get the seeds in the ground.

Moments like these, Stoutenburg said, make him feel like he’s handcuffed because he’s unable to access the resources necessary to fix these problems.

“The times have changed so rapidly that you can't just put a piece of tape over the sensor and get by,” he said. “It's holding us back. I mean, I bought the machine. I paid for the technology.”