<story><title>New High-Tech Farm Equipment Is a Nightmare for Farmers</title><url>http://www.wired.com/2015/02/new-high-tech-farm-equipment-nightmare-farmers/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>sandworm</author><text>A DRM exception for farmers?  Why them and not the rest of us?&lt;p&gt;Farmers are the classic American go-to for everything politics.  Be it guns, corn in Coke, pollution standards, healthcare, immigration ... everyone is ready to pity the poor farmer.  I understand the rational.  Farmers make the food we eat.  They also embody an American fantasy harkening back to the old west.  But this is also who I see red flags whenever I hear farmers brought up in reference to a law.&lt;p&gt;Farmers are the purchasers of equipment used in their business.  Why give them a pass to bypass DRM but not the fishermen?  Fishermen make food.  Maritime law affords them special treatment in a similar manner as land use laws treat farmers.  Surely fishermen have an equal tradition of self-sufficiency and are also deserving of an exception.  And then come the taxi companies who have long maintained their own fleets.  Soldiers?  Surely we first need an exemption for the armed forces.&lt;p&gt;I cannot think of any profession without a tradition of maintaining its own equipment.  That&amp;#x27;s probably because DRM is new tech.  So it&amp;#x27;s impossible for anyone to have a tradition of accommodating and obeying DRM.  As we all suffer it, we should all be free of it.  No exemptions.&lt;p&gt;Let us instead pity the poor metal worker whose CNC machine cannot be moved across the shop floor without triggering its GPS-dependant DRM.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20140109/03060325817/latest-twist-drm-lockdown-geolocation.shtml&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.techdirt.com&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;20140109&amp;#x2F;03060325817&amp;#x2F;lates...&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>New High-Tech Farm Equipment Is a Nightmare for Farmers</title><url>http://www.wired.com/2015/02/new-high-tech-farm-equipment-nightmare-farmers/</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>Trisell</author><text>The other issue I think will be longevity. I grew up on a farm, and every piece of machinery that we used was older then I was by about 10 years, at least. Farmer&amp;#x27;s expect to purchase a tractor, and then run that piece of equipment for the entire life of the FARMER.&lt;p&gt;It feels like the tractor manufactures today are catering to the mega farms, not the smaller farms that make up a larger portion of our farming infrastructure. And the small farms only buy a new tractor every 10 - 20 years. Not every 3 - 5 years for a tax break.</text></comment>