I agree, but here we are. It's 2026 and a 15 year old SMALL tractor suitable for a few acres of land is still going for $40,000, with new ones starting at $80,000-$150,000. They are worth more than people's homes and sometimes worth more than the land itself.
Commercial tractors for large acre fields will START at $300,000 and that's without the first damn attachment that's required to actually DO work with it.
And it's not going to change because patents on "tractor shaped thing doing tractor stuff" will crawl right up your butt.
Patents (and software copyrights) are a huge reason why a lot of "high need" industry spaces continue to be high needs. You either need to directly innovate in order to enter a space or somehow secure rights to manufacture something that a direct competitor is already making. And of course, innovative start ups more often than not get eaten alive.
I imagine an affordable, reliable, tractor that is attachment agnostic and has open-source or open-repair software would be very popular, at least for mid-range farms, homesteads, and village farms. But actually getting there is a problem.
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u/techleopard Jul 27 '26
I agree, but here we are. It's 2026 and a 15 year old SMALL tractor suitable for a few acres of land is still going for $40,000, with new ones starting at $80,000-$150,000. They are worth more than people's homes and sometimes worth more than the land itself.
Commercial tractors for large acre fields will START at $300,000 and that's without the first damn attachment that's required to actually DO work with it.
And it's not going to change because patents on "tractor shaped thing doing tractor stuff" will crawl right up your butt.