For tech-weary Midwest farmers, 40-year-old tractors now a hot commodity
My grandfather, rest his soul, was a 3rd generation rancher and farmer. He bought 2 John Deere tractors in the &#x27;80s and used them for 35 years. They are still being used to this day on the ranch.<p>Growing up, I visited the ranch regularly. Farming and ranching is very hard on equipment so the tractors often needed repair. My father and grandfather could seemingly fix anything on the tractor without even needing to go to the parts store. (The closest one was a 1 hour drive). Without this capability my family never would have been able to make a living of any kind with their land.<p>In 2020 farmland is being gobbled up by corporations. The family farmer is going extinct. That means tractor companies are getting a whole new customer who is nothing like the previous. Corporations want tractors as a service, they want them to be self-driving, and they want to manage them in bulk. They don&#x27;t really care if they can repair them because they pay someone else to do it.<p>Personally, it is sad to see this change since so much of my family history and memories are tied up in the way things used to be. I sometimes feel out of place in my family because I couldn&#x27;t fix a single thing on a tractor. On the other hand my grandfather didn&#x27;t touch a computer in his entire life.<p>The world changes and sometimes it sucks but that is how progress is made.