The American Farm Bureau Federation announced on May 22 it has signed additional memoranda of understanding with two agricultural equipment manufacturers, AGCO and Kubota, providing farmers and ranchers the right to repair their own farm equipment.
The two new MOUs, which were negotiated with each manufacturer separately, are similar to agreements AFBF negotiated with John Deere and CNH Industrial Brands earlier this year.
“Combined, the four MOUs cover roughly 70 percent of the agricultural machinery sold in the United States,” an AFBF release stated.
“The American Farm Bureau Federation is pleased to announce new agreements with AGCO and Kubota,” said AFBF President Zippy Duvall. “Farmers and ranchers urged us to find a private sector-solution to the challenges of repairing their own equipment. These agreements represent ongoing efforts to ensure farmers have access to the tools necessary to keep their equipment running, and to keep food on the table for families across America.”
AGCO VP of Customer Support Barry O’Shea also said, “AGCO’s farmer-first focus guides us in everything we do, and we support farmers’ ability to repair the equipment they own. We are dedicated to being their most trusted partner for smart farming solutions, and this MOU with Farm Bureau is an outcome of that commitment. We appreciated the American Farm Bureau’s diligence, and we will continue delivering tools farmers can use to diagnose, maintain, and repair their AGCO machinery.”
Todd Stucke, Senior Vice President of Marketing for Kubota Tractor Corporation, said, “Kubota is pleased to join the AFBF in signing a memorandum of understanding to ensure our customers are empowered with the information and tools needed to safely maintain, diagnose and make repairs on their own equipment. Through our network of over 1,100 dealers, Kubota makes available the shop tools, parts, guides and manuals to owners who choose to work directly on their machines. We strive to ensure that our equipment is manufactured to the highest engineering standards to maximize performance for our customers, and this agreement is a good step toward further protecting their safety while operating, maintaining and repairing it.”
The MOUs “respect the intellectual property rights of the manufacturers while setting a framework for farmers and independent repair facilities in all 50 U.S. states and Puerto Rico to access AGCO and Kubota manuals, tools, product guides and information to self-diagnose and self-repair machines, as well as support from the manufacturers to directly purchase or lease diagnostic tools and order products and parts,” the AFBF release said.
Read the AGCO MOU here.
Read the Kubota MOU here.
