JOHN DEERE: A Controversial American Icon | Up To Speed

- Should the farmers themselves be allowed to repair the tractors they paid for? Farmers say yes, but John Deere says no. (engines spinning) (engine revving) This leaping deer is loved by workers around the world who enjoy a nearly 200-year legacy. But like almost everything else in America, this one is full of controversy. In this episode, you'll learn the rich history of these Illinois tractor drivers and why so many farmers are suing them. Here's everything you need to know to get up to

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with John Deere. (arcade music) Big thanks once again to Surfshark VPN for sponsoring today's episode of... (stutter) - I bet you didn't think you'd see me again.

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One of the coolest features is the ability to change my location, giving me access to TV shows that are normally blocked here in the good old United States. I'm talking about anime. If you want better online protection, click the link in the description below and try Surfshark VPN today. Enter promo code Donut Media to get 85% off and three extra months free. Support the sponsors who support Donut. And now, back to the show. Up To Speed, a battle between farmers and John Deere has been quietly waged inside barns, fields and courthouses across the country for years. And the crux of the matter is: should farmers be allowed to repair their own tractors as they have for 100 years?

Now, it seems crazy, but John Deere has argued that farmers don't even own their tractors, but rather an implied license to operate them. So how did it come to be like this? Well, we should probably start at the beginning. - Chapter 1, The Plowlogue. - Our story about tractors begins before tractors were even tractors, when tractors were horses and mules and stuff. In 1837, a blacksmith named, you guessed it, John Deere lived in Grand Detour, Illinois. Then one day, John is hanging out with these farmers and these farmers have a problem. Dan Aykroyd Chicago accent, Chicago, Chicago. Hey, we have a problem.

Our plows don't trudge through this sticky, root-ridden soil of the Midwest and such. - Yes, this mud is deeper than our damn pizza. - Hey, not so fast there, friend. Not all of our pizza is deep. Part is very thin and crispy. - Yes, we need a plow that we can drag around the garden like our damn hot dogs. - Yes, no ketchup. - No tomato sauce. - No tomato sauce. - Then John started thinking. He remembered this broken steel saw blade that he had in his shop and that he had salvaged from a nearby sawmill.

So he threw the blade under a plow and voila, it worked really well. And he was able to put out so many plows that he left the small town of Grand Detour for the big city lights of nearby Moline, Illinois. In 1876, Deere registered the

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ic leaping deer logo with the U.S. Patent Office, which became one of the longest continuously used logos of all time and a staple of deer-backed caps. mesh and very curved visor. (upbeat music) Even if the company had never gotten into the tractor game, John Deere would have earned a place in American history with this plow alone. (Ringtone playing) - Chapter 2, The First Deere. - In 1892, 103 years before Post Malone was born, a guy named John Froelich invented the first gasoline-powered tractor that used a single-cylinder engine to move the machine back and forth.

Froelich met with businessmen in Waterloo, Iowa and they all partnered to form the Waterloo Gasoline Tractor Company, which immediately began to struggle as the company was only able to sell two tractors before running out of money. (Laughter) Then in 1914, they introduced their Model R tractor, which unlike the first attempt was a really sick tractor and the company sold 8,000 of them before discontinuing it. The Waterloo Company's experience made it very attractive to another company looking to complete its line of agricultural equipment. And that company was Caterpillar, jk, it was John Deere. In 1923, John Deere launched its first tractor marketed as the John Deere.

No more Waterloo nameplate, okay. I'm calling this thing my name. Deere had a damn soul-shattering, 15-hour kerosene-burning two-cylinder engine. They called it the Model D. While other tractor manufacturers were experimenting with more powerful four-cylinder designs, John Deere was making a conscious decision to build a less advanced tractor because he knew his customers relied on his machine to survive. And that stands in stark contrast to Deere's fight to prevent farmers from repairing their machines today. (puttering motor) The Model D was a great success. It's basically the '32 Ford of the tractor world. Over its 30-year lifespan, John Deere sold 160,000 Model Ds.

Moving forward a bit in history, the Great Depression ruined the economy, then World War II followed, which meant John Deere couldn't make tractors. When the Allies won, John Deere went back to work on the next big breakthrough. (engine starting) In 1949, the Model M took two years to design and would be John Deere's best tractor yet. It was conceived as the complete agricultural package. Hydraulic touch controls in front of the driver allowed them to adjust the height of the plow on the fly. And in the back, the new quick-connect system meant that anyone could connect the equipment to the Model M themselves, simplifying the entire experience.

John Deere also made the Model M super comfortable for farmers by including an air cushion seat and an adjustable steering wheel. My cars don't even have adjustable steering wheels. John Deere produced a construction version of the M called the MC. C meant crawl because this booger had tracks like a damn tank. This was very important for the company because it showed that John Deere could innovate outside of the agricultural industry. And besides, who doesn't like damn tank tracks? - Chapter 3, Hay bales and snowmobiles. -If you're a city dweller like me, you may never come across hay bales in the wild outside of the Red Bull circuit or maybe on Halloween at Knott's Berry Farm or your local hayride facility.

But farmers depend on it because in the winter, when grass doesn't grow in the pastures, they need something to feed their livestock. And that's where hay comes into play. It's like some big shredded wheat animal crackers. In the 1930s, automatic balers were developed to form and tie bales of hay with twine. The problem with these balers is that you usually needed someone behind them to throw the bales into the cart. But that changed in 1957 when John Deere introduced the 14T baler, which had so-called bale ejection technology that could throw the bales onto the wagon for you, making baling hay a one-person job for the first time.

Another leap for Deere at this time was the increase in engine displacement. Until 1959, all Deere tractors used two-cylinder engines. But in 1960, that was about to change when they introduced 4M six-cylinder engines across the line, giving farmers even more plowing in their fields. (Laughter) After the baby boom of the 1950s, the concept of the American suburb spread throughout the country. And typical houses usually come with lawns. And boy, did Americans love their lawn? By 1959, almost 6 million lawn mowers had been sold in the United States and John Deere wanted to enter that market, but with a different type of engine.

A tractor for the suburban era. In 1966, John Deere introduced the John Deere 60 lawn tractor. In addition to the mower blade underneath, there are a number of accessories for the equipment-loving urban tractor warrior, including a snow blower, snow plow blade, and a pull sprayer so you can spray delicious lawn treatment formulas behind you. Well, John Deere had wide recognition within the world of agriculture. Putting their baby tractors in suburban yards across America really brought the brand into the mainstream. - Because nothing works like a Deere. - John Deere followed up with an even crazier attempt at mainstream success with a line of snowmobiles.

In 1971, they started with the 339 cc model called the 400. And a 463 cc model called the 500. Deere stopped making the sleds in 1982 after selling the brand to one of their competitors, Polaris. Have you ever heard of him? (engine whirring) (crash) - Ooh! - In 1972, John Deere was about to drop another bomb on the agricultural sector with its second generation tractors. These beefy guys were unlike anything the company had released before. Instead of sitting on top of the machine outside in the sun, the Gen IIs had an enclosed cockpit called the Sound Guard. Not only did it protect him from the sun's rays from the black hole, but the insulated cabin was also equipped with ample sound insulation to give his ears a rest, again improving the way of life of a farmer.

The largest of these tractors was a 4630, a row tractor that generated 150 horsepower. What is a row crop tractor? As the name suggests, a row crop is designed for growing crops in rows. (chiming) As the 80s progressed, John Deere began to focus more on fuel efficiency with its new range. And the change couldn't have come at a more opportune time for them. Thanks to a combination of crop overproduction, embargoes, and declining crop exports, farms across the United States were in pretty bad shape. The event was called The Agricultural Crisis. Finally, we can talk about another crisis different from the gas crisis.

I talk about it a lot, soon we will make a t-shirt. (Applause and cheers) But because of Deere's refocusing while other manufacturers like International Harvester were really feeling the heat of the agricultural crisis, John Deere was able to turn a profit and move forward with new designs. They released a lot of new tractors, but we like big things here. So I'm going to talk about the big one. The largest of these new tractors was the gigantic Model 8850, a four-wheel drive, V8-powered, 370 hspr beast. It was like the damn Charger Hellcat widebody tractor. But capabilities like this came at a cost, $120,000, about $320,000 in today's money.

John Deere was at the top of the game, but was once again looking to enter some new markets. But this time, John Deere would not take on a specific task like it did with the lawn tractor. This new Deere would be all about utility. - Chapter 4, Help Gator. - In 1992, John Deere abandoned the Gator TH. This humble work vehicle was designed for all types of work. They are damn wonderful. It's the first thing most of us drive, that or a golf cart. The TH came in a 6 x 4 configuration, meaning six wheels, four of which transmitted power to the ground.

Deere also released the slightly less rugged Gator TS, which had four wheels instead of six. Now, the Gator is important not only in the history of John Deere, but I think it helped shape an entire sector of motorsports today. Now stay with me. With the success of the Gator, other manufacturers followed suit with their own utility vehicles, companies such as Polaris and Yamaha. Now, these things were definitely meant for hard work, just like the Gator, but the owners figured something out. They are so much fun to drive! (engine revving) Polaris was the first person to recognize this and built a utility vehicle that wasn't so utility and they called it the RZR.

And I don't know if you've noticed this, but RZRs are everywhere. You drive to any damn suburb, or you have an RV, a boat, or an RZR. John Deere even got involved with the RZR RSX line. The RSX had four-wheel drive and a top

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of 60 miles per hour. 60 miles per hour in an off-road golf cart. The Gator reintroduced John Deere to millions of people who otherwise would never have come into contact with the brand. I mean, I've never driven a tractor, but I've driven a million Gators. (engine rumbling) In 1994, John Deere abandoned the model 8000 tractor, another turning point in agricultural productivity.

Engineers wanted to dramatically improve the tractor's turning radius, which would help farmers get on track.their vehicles in the fields more easily, but it seemed impossible until engineer Tara Woods had an idea. Alright, she places the engine well above the front axle and uses a dropbox transmission. This eliminated the need for wider frame wheels, so the front wheels could turn much more. The design worked. The advance was so significant for agriculture that the Smithsonian American History Museum included Tara's drawing in an exhibit of important napkin innovations. It seemed there was no stopping John Deere as the 20th century came to a close.

They were killing the farm game. But as the 2000s progressed, some people actually believed that. As if John Deere was killing agriculture. - Chapter 5, Right to Repair. - Going back to the question that opened this episode, should the farmers themselves be allowed to fix the tractors they paid for? Because today's Deere are so advanced—some even drive themselves—John Deere says repairing the machine is less of a mechanical issue and more of a software rights issue. Now, technically, you can still replace parts on your John Deere, but then you must take your tractor to an authorized dealer to have a mechanic clear all the error codes in the computer to get the machine working again.

Loading a tractor is not cheap. Some farmers have reported that it cost them $1,000 just to get their tractor back and forth to the shop, not counting the cost of clearing the actual codes. Now, farmers say John Deere essentially has a monopoly on the repair market. Make no mistake: John Deere is making money from this deal. But the tractor manufacturer has some rebuttals to this argument. Just like a car, tractors must meet emissions standards. And let's say a farmer has access to all the engine controls and tunes his Deere to make a little moh powah, baybah, creating more pollution in the process.

That's not good. Another common talking point at Deere is the threat of unintended consequences cascading through the computer system from a well-intentioned mechanic who doesn't know exactly what he's doing and makes the problem worse. That's very kind of him. 20 states across the country have introduced laws to help farmers regain their right to repair, but unfortunately, the battle is very, very uphill. Because the issue concerns software, technology companies like Apple tend to attend hearings on the issue. John Deere allows its customers to access its software, so a precedent could be set for Apple to allow its users to do the same.

Apple doesn't want that. Because of this shared interest, farmers have teamed up with right-to-repair advocates in the tech sector, like Louis Rossmann, a YouTuber who shows people how to repair their devices. He makes really good videos, you should check it out. - John Deere acts in many ways similar to how Apple acts. We have many of the same complaints from people who work on farms and farm equipment and people like me who try to work on these devices... - I never thought I would die fighting next to a technician. - How about next to a friend? - Oh, I could do that. (laughs) - Chapter 6, Modern Deer. - Leaving aside the fight for the right to repair, what is John Deere like today?

Their biggest tractor currently is the 9620RX, a four-wheel drive, track-powered machine with a 15-litre Cummings turbodiesel making 620hsprs, mate, ha ha ha. The 9620 was designed for maximum traction in wet and hail conditions. And since it uses tracks, the 55,000-pound curb weight is distributed over a larger area, minimizing impact on the ground below. As a somewhat immature farmer, I know you don't want to impact the soil below. Also, I forgot to mention that it drives itself. GPS guidance isn't exactly new, but John Deere's AutoTrac guidance system directs the tractor while the farmer on board is free to care for whatever equipment he's towing.

John Deere is an

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ic name with an undeniable impact on the world of agriculture and, by extension, the world at large. As the tractors continue to advance, the company finds itself at a crossroads. Balancing the tradition it helped create and setting a new standard that is tarnishing the company's reputation among the people who trust it most. If you like this video, make sure to hit the subscribe button and the notification bell so you don't miss anything. We publish a new video almost every day. If you want to learn more about another vehicle that changed the American landscape, check out this video I made about Peterbilt.

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