Iowa lawmakers voted advance the state Bill 751 last week, legislation that would guarantee farmers in the state can freely repair their own agricultural equipment, such as tractors. This Tuesday, the bill was renamed House file 2709and it will be voted on again. If the political winds align, the bill will pass the Iowa House and Senate before the Iowa Legislature adjourns on April 21.
The bill is the first in a series of almost 57 state bills supported by repair advocates across the country in 2026. Many of them focus on agricultural equipment in states like Oklahoma, Wyoming, DelawareAnd West Virginia. Repair advocates hope a victory in Iowa — the second-most profitable U.S. state in agricultural products, behind California — will help continue legislative and broader efforts to make phones, cars and other devices more repairable.
“It’s not just a blue state thing; It’s not just about Colorado activists,” says Elizabeth Chamberlaindirector of sustainable development for the defense branch of the right to repair iFixit. “It’s real. Farmers are having trouble repairing their equipment and want change.”
Farmers and their tractors have long been the focus. right to repair movement, the constantly growing global effort to enable product owners repair their own devices and equipment without the approval of the manufacturer. Farmers who use tractors to plant, cultivate and harvest often need to repair their equipment while they work. Waiting for manufacturer approval to repair something, or taking the time to take the equipment to an authorized dealer, can lead to delays, frustration and missed opportunities to harvest.
The Iowa bill defines the agricultural equipment it covers, including tractors, trailers, combines, sprayers, balers and other equipment used to cultivate and harvest crops. This excludes aircraft and irrigation equipment, as well as jet skis and snowmobiles.
Manufacturers would also be required to provide owners with data (documentation, such as manuals and access to built-in operating software) about their tractors, including future patches and fixes, all without charge or permission for Internet access. The bill also limits the use of digital locks, which are software restrictions that prevent access to features without manufacturer approval.
Oh Deere
The most prominent opponent of the Iowa bill is tractor maker John Deere, which has a long history of oppose repair efforts and frustrate farmers who want to take more control of their equipment. The company is still fighting the U.S. Federal Trade Commission. levied against John Deere in January 2025 for “illegal” repairability policies. The company has pressures against the Iowa bill and adamantly opposes its passage.
“John Deere strongly supports farmers’ ability to repair their equipment,” a John Deere representative wrote in a statement in response to WIRED’s investigation. “And we support that by offering industry-leading self-healing tools and resources to equipment owners and alternative service providers.”
John Deere highlights its online repair center which lists ways its product owners can repair their products. Chamberlain says it’s true that John Deere offers self-repair options, but these don’t always match the reality of what farmers need to make repairs in the moment.
“Ultimately, it doesn’t matter if the vast majority of repairs are possible if there is a repair that causes your equipment to break down and that means a loss of crop or having to wait weeks for a dealer representative to come,” Chamberlain says.
John Deere said it previously supported third-party repair and self-repair of its equipment. In 2023, John Deere and the American Farm Bureau have agreed to a memorandum of understanding about how the company would allow access to repairs on its products in response to repair laws passed in states like Colorado. But the supporters of reparation criticized the decisionsaying the memorandum did little to force John Deere to adhere to the new regulations.
“We had difficulty getting John Deere to meaningfully comply with the right to repair law passed in Colorado,” Chamberlain says. “It was conformity in name only. »
Chamberlain is concerned that John Deere will repeat these efforts, given that the language in the Iowa bill is very similar to that of Colorado’s repair laws.
“This legislative proposal would go well beyond allowing self-healing and requiring government intervention to dictate how manufacturers and dealers make certain digital tools available,” a John Deere representative wrote in a statement about the Iowa bill.
But Chamberlain says: “It’s ridiculous. It can’t be both. It can’t be something they’re already doing and also be massive government overreach that goes beyond repair.”
Although it has long been the heavyweight of the agricultural sector, John Deere seems to be losing some steam on the repair front. Agriculture industry groups that have traditionally aligned with John Deere in opposing these proposed measures have taken a neutral stance on the first version of the Iowa bill. For the new HF 2709, groups like the Iowa Corn Growers Association and the Iowa Soybean Association have puts pressure in favor of the bill. (Neither group responded to WIRED’s requests for comment.)
“The overwhelming support that John Deere has received from dealers, corn and soy groups, etc., is starting to crumble,” Chamberlain says.
