The problem with an industry like tractors is, from my humble and limited experience as a farmer who hated it is that it's less about the industry and more about a mismatch between needs and reality. Farmers need machines that can operate at as close to zero ongoing cost as possible. They need automation and simplicity from the machine as well as any software. They need an assurance that, if something goes wrong they can either fix it themselves at that moment with common and standard tools, or that someone can come fix it for them within the hour, for a very low cost.
The problem with fancy modern tractors aren't that they are a negative value, or that they aren't extremely handy. It's that they are unbelievably expensive, because they are geared toward huge production, extremely efficient corporate "family" farms.
The kind of people who use old, out of date machinery because it's cheaper and easier to fix are a) dying out, and b) not a huge market in the US.
Maybe I'm way off base, but the 'need for disruption' in farming has always struck me as naive at best, and extremely egotistical at worst. That being said, as someone who actually did farm for 20+ years before quitting that for a cushy office job, I would love for the barrier to entry to be lower. I would love to hobby farm, but it's so expensive to do anything nowadays that it's impractical. But that, again, is not much of a market.
The problem with fancy modern tractors aren't that they are a negative value, or that they aren't extremely handy. It's that they are unbelievably expensive, because they are geared toward huge production, extremely efficient corporate "family" farms.
The kind of people who use old, out of date machinery because it's cheaper and easier to fix are a) dying out, and b) not a huge market in the US.
Maybe I'm way off base, but the 'need for disruption' in farming has always struck me as naive at best, and extremely egotistical at worst. That being said, as someone who actually did farm for 20+ years before quitting that for a cushy office job, I would love for the barrier to entry to be lower. I would love to hobby farm, but it's so expensive to do anything nowadays that it's impractical. But that, again, is not much of a market.