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Nebraska legislator won’t refile right-to-repair bill after AFBF, John Deere MOU

A Nebraska state senator says he won’t revive his right to repair legislation after American Farm Bureau’s recent agreement with John Deere.

“I’m willing to give this a chance to see how it all works out.”

Tom Brandt of Plymouth tells Brownfield if there isn’t progress, then he will reintroduce his bill in 2024.  “We have 46,000 farmers in the state of Nebraska and a lot of locations of dealerships.  It will be very apparent from a year from now whether they accomplish what they said they were going to accomplish or not.”

A memorandum of understanding was signed at AFBF’s convention in Puerto Rico earlier this month and Nebraska Farm Bureau initially introduced the policy.

He says farmers should be able to chose who fixes their equipment. “As for myself as a farmer, I’m 63 years old.  I would still use a dealership.  I still use dealerships on a lot of my repairs.  My son’s generations and he’s in his 20s.  That’s a whole different thing because they have the ability to fix a lot of his stuff.”

Brandt’s legislation advanced out of the Judiciary Committee last year, had brief debate, but didn’t get voted on at the end of the session.