17 ms·

Alberta startup sells no-tech tractors for half price

• righthand 6mo ago
  Good. The John Deere monopoly is wild, but if you talk to a farmer they say they can’t handle the repairs. Sure, John Deere gets to make more expensive and complex machines and convince their customers that it’s “the future”.
  • 9rx 6mo ago
    Those buying new don't care about repairs. They were never going to do the warrantee work themselves anyway. Those buying on the used market have more reason to care about repairs, but used buyers are beholden to what new buyers purchased in the past.
    • justonceokay 6mo ago
      > Those buying new don't care about repairs. Yes because thy live in the John Deere future. This was not always the case, surely. You used to be able to take high school classes to learn how to fix a combustion engine, even a new one!
      • saalweachter 6mo ago
        Keep in mind that tractors are also getting massive. The economics of row-crop agriculture is "you gotta farm more land". That means spending as much time in the field as you can with as big a machine as you can. So not only is time you spend fixing your tractor yourself time you're not spending on your primary job, it's also working on a machine that's just monstrously huge. Delegating that work to a specialist with specialized tools is a very reasonable way to live.
        • greedo 6mo ago
          Exactly! The old image of a guy on a Deere 4020 pulling an eight row implement is just unsustainable in today's agricultural system. Whether that system is sustainable is a different question.
          • saalweachter 6mo ago
            Incidentally, the 4020 is like the tractor to me. One of these days I'm going to buy one to restore, the way other men but the cars of their youth.
            • greedo 6mo ago
              Exactly. A 4020 is fun! It may not have as much torque and ground pressure may not be as good as a quad belt tractor, but for a lil farm where you just want to grow hay or screw around?
          • 9rx 6mo ago
            > The old image of a guy on a Deere 4020 pulling an eight row implement is just unsustainable in today's agricultural system. That entirely depends on your business goals. If you want to leverage debt to amass wealth you need scale to eke out a living after the debt burden takes most of your potential profit. The 4020 is going to fall well short of what is required there. Those who see farming as an income source rather than a wealth generator, however, don't need scale and can do quite well with the venerable 4020. Eight rows is plenty when you don't have the bank breathing down your neck wondering if you are going to cover your six figure loan payment this month. It's a lot like the business of tech, really. Some want to build the startup that never turns a profit but sells for billions years into the future, while others want to build the small "mom and pop" that offers a lifestyle, even if it never makes them rich. Both are valid and viable approaches. It depends on what you want out of it.
        • vablings 6mo ago
          The issue is that the specialized employees is not someone you hire on payroll who has access to tools you purchase. They must be a John Deere employee who comes from out of state and costs you $$$$$$ to calibrate a sensor that could just be a simple menu button and a 20 second wait
          • saalweachter 6mo ago
            I mean, sure, right to repair and all that, but to be clear, unless you have like 50+ tractors to maintain, it's not going to make economic sense to have a full time employee to repair them. You still want to call out, you just want the option of calling someone local with more competitive rates and a faster response time.
          • greedo 6mo ago
            JD techs are all over the Midwest. No one is coming from out of state to work on your combine.
          • 9rx 6mo ago
            If John Deere is sending a tech, you've encountered something that could never be just a simple menu button. You've found a major flaw that they need to investigate in detail. John Deere would never send a tech for routine troubleshooting/repairs. That falls on the local dealership franchises. Their employees are not John Deere employees.
            • vablings 6mo ago
              No, sadly not. John Deere is very anti right to repair, and they will do anything to make you call up an authorized tech. There are authorized dealers who are not John Deere directly, but they are completely subservient to John Deere (they have to be otherwise they will not get access to the software tooling required to fix equipment), the semantic difference to a farmer is inconsequential, you will be overcharged[1] and scalped because the consequences of not paying is a multi-million-dollar heap of scrap because you cannot fix it yourself. There are no independent tools to work on this equipment because selling a license to a 3rd party software would be in breach 1201 of the DMCA [1]: https://apnews.com/article/john-deere-repair-lawsuit-settlement-595d4b089689cd94418991326275b68d https://apnews.com/article/john-deere-repair-lawsuit-settlem... [2]: https://apnews.com/article/deere-farm-repair-tractors-monopoly-85c18d35a1e0999decb535aa5d7c358e https://apnews.com/article/deere-farm-repair-tractors-monopo...
      • HeyLaughingBoy 6mo ago
        You still can. My 26-year-old took automotive shop when he was a Junior in HS. Of course, we live in a rural school district...
    • cucumber3732842 6mo ago
      That's not true for commercial users the way it is for private cars. Even if you have a service contract you're still gonna be pissed at the downtime cost of having a tech drag their ass out to wherever you are to initiate a forced regen or something.
      • 9rx 6mo ago
        > you're still gonna be pissed at the downtime cost of having a tech drag their ass out to wherever you are You might be pissed that the machine malfunctioned at all, but you kind of have to accept that if you want to be in the business. It comes with the territory. But you are not going to personally travel all the way from the office out to the field to fix it. That's insanity. The small farmer who has to do it all to make the business viable has more reason to want to fix it himself, but they live on the used market. The small farmer can't afford those new machines. Have you seen how expensive new equipment is? And that is exactly what Ursa is gambling on here: That if they remove all but the bare necessities that they can get the price point of new down to something small farmers can actually afford. However, it remains to be seen if that is compelling enough. Not having all the modern conveniences does take its toll on your mind and body after a long day in the field. A modern-spec used machine may still be more appealing to the small farmer who has to operate his own equipment — and let's face the harsh reality here: even if you aren't personally going to operate it, hired help isn't coming if you don't give them the most luxurious equipment available. They can just as easily go work for the farm that was willing to invest in it.
    • wolttam 6mo ago
      The existence of this startup and their early demand seems to refute your point.
      • 9rx 6mo ago
        What early demand are you seeing, exactly? The article does indicate that they plan to ramp up production in 2026, but no mention of actual sales. It is quite possible that they are increasing production thinking that they need to roll them out to dealer lots to gain any traction. In fact, their TractorHouse profile shows that they are still struggling to sell last year's models. If there was demand, why hasn't that demand already gobbled up the stock? "I guess it would be cool to own one if it was given to me for free" isn't demand.
        • righthand 6mo ago
          They need to swing the pendulum back, the current problem is that there is now a whole generation about to take over from the previous and the new gen has never had to use a non-John Deere a tractor. If they could evangelize their product as the “smarter farmer that doesn’t need all that tech” then they might have success.
          • greedo 6mo ago
            You should know that there are alternatives to green machines; Case, Massey Ferguson, Fendt etc.
            • righthand 6mo ago
              I know but for the sake of timeliness I’m not writing out every tractor company. Further John Deere has led the way on the current state of tractors.
            • saalweachter 6mo ago
              Oh hey, do you happen to know if there's any tool incompatibility in the modern electronics? The other thing about tractors is that the three point hitches, PTOs, etc etc, have been standardized forever, so there's very little lock in in terms of, swap out your JD for and IH and away you go, so I'm curious if eg modern seed drills have any fancy tech which locks you in.
    • sodapopcan 6mo ago
      > Those buying new don't care about repairs. huh, why not?
      • 9rx 6mo ago
        Because it's not an effective use of their time. New farm equipment buyers are running big businesses. Shifting their focus away from the business to repair equipment would be as silly as the CEO of Google personally replacing a failed hard drive on an employee's workstation. There is an industry out there that is already worried about the repairs for you. You, not being in that industry, don't need to be. Like before, those next in line buying used equipment on smaller farms are more likely to have free time to spend on doing their own repairs and may even enjoy doing it as a hobby, but like before, the are limited to what's available on the used market. If the BTOs aren't buying Kubotas[1], it won't be a used option. This segment of farmers aren't choosing what enters the market initially. [1] And generally they don't, but the big-time snow pushers seem to really like them, so in reality you do have options even on the used market. It turns out that tractors aren't just for farmers.
    • idiotsecant 6mo ago
      You're pretty confident for someone who fundamentally does not understand the issue. During harvest season even hours of delay can be disastrous for farms that are barely solvent in the first place. When your only option is to call the dealer and hope and pray they deign to visit your farm in a timely fashion it doesn't matter how good the warranty is or is not. Farmers need to be self sufficient because time is money and money is survival.
      • 9rx 6mo ago
        It may be true that I do not understand whatever nondescript fundamental issue it is that you mention but don't elaborate on, but I most definitely understand the constraints of farming. Being a farmer, I live it each day. And as a farmer who owns equipment from across all the major brands (and some unheard of brands to boot), you are right that John Deere is most reliable for having parts in stock. I've been burned by the others having to wait a week on parts to be delivered from who knows where. That is not a fun position to be in. Repairability is where John Deere has the clear advantage. That is, just as you point out, why they are most popular. Nothing else matters if your equipment doesn't work. You pay a lot more for that luxury, but when the clock is ticking...
      • greedo 6mo ago
        LOL. If you're a row cropper, you're running a big combine. Several grain trucks. Lots of expensive gear. Gear breaks down, that's why you buy something reliable, that has techs in your area who can fix things quickly, with a parts network that stocks stuff from decades back. Farmers are self-sufficient in incredible ways, but maintaining a multi-million dollar combine is pushing it. They can do oil changes, filter changes, replace consumables on implements, and do basic trouble shooting, but there are limits. And yes, time does matter. That's why farmers tend to help each other out a lot. Field catch fire because you didn't clean off your combine the previous day? It's going to be your neighbor coming out and helping firebreak your field so you lose 5 acres instead of 500. Can't afford to have your own sprayer for fertilizer, etc? You hit up the co-op. And farmers have crop insurance. Doesn't make them whole, but the idea that they're going to be eating dirt if they harvest a day late is silly.
• wepple 6mo ago
  I love that the 5.9 lives on ursa-ag.com For (a little bit) more info
• mattas 6mo ago
  This is pretty cool! Kinda similar to what Slate is doing with cars.
  • toast0 6mo ago
    What Slate is hyping that they'll do with small trucks. We'll see what, if anything, actually becomes available.
    • mattas 6mo ago
      Agreed. Hopefully something materializes but who knows. These tractors actually exist.
  • giacomoforte 6mo ago
    Why not buy a used one?
    • bennettnate5 6mo ago
      The market for used tractors went through the roof years ago--20 to 40 year old tractors with tens of thousands of miles on them sell for not so far from new prices because farmers value being able to fix them without paying $$$
    • moralestapia 6mo ago
      Why not having options?
• itopaloglu83 6mo ago
  Thank you Cloudflare for making it impossible to read news, and yes I am a human.
  • fudged71 6mo ago
    Mobile Safari has been giving me a complete loop on these in the past couple months, I have to switch browsers to get through. Anyone else?
    • NitpickLawyer 6mo ago
      My guess is that this is a direct response to all the claw stuff running on macs. I used to never get cf captchas from a mac + home IP (while getting plenty on my linux ws + work vpn). Now i've gotten 2 sites in the past week that not only show the captcha, but also loop once I click the human thing. Most likely mac + resIP is not a good signal anymore...
    • hirako2000 6mo ago
      I occasionally get those loop even on chrome.
    • ectospheno 6mo ago
      Worked for me just now on mobile safari. You get the cloudflare human test but I just clicked the box and was in. This was despite accessing the site while vpn’d from home and using multiple adblockers.
    • itopaloglu83 6mo ago
      Maybe it’s the blocking of 3rd party cookies, because I experience similar issues with Chrome on desktop from time to time.
  • masfuerte 6mo ago
    Here's an alternative source: https://www.thedrive.com/news/new-tractor-with-12-valve-cummins-and-zero-electronics-goes-back-to-the-basics https://www.thedrive.com/news/new-tractor-with-12-valve-cumm...
• bombcar 6mo ago
  Sounds like Gliders (truck) though those are usually to avoid emissions requirements. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glider_%28automobiles%29#Glider_truck https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glider_%28automobiles%29#Glide...
• cmrdporcupine 6mo ago
  Wish they sold something in the compact utility segment. 40-60hpish. I'd love an affordable Canadian made tractor for property maintenance / smaller farms. (Though these days I've love something electric. I don't need long run time, I'm not doing row crops. Just market gardening and property maintenance stuff. All the electric stuff I see out there is aiming up at the high end and for autonomy / "smart" tractor stuff which I don't care about.)
  • pwatsonwailes 6mo ago
    You may want to check out Siromer tractors depending where you are. Similar idea.
  • rickypp 6mo ago
    If you're mechanically inclined, the compacts of yesterdecade are still out there. Popular brands like Ford or Massey Ferguson have amazingly good supply chain for 50 year old models. I run my hobby farm with a 1975 MF135, and I just sold a 1947 Massey Harris Pony that ran like a top doing pasture/arena dragging duties. I've put a ton of hours on the 135 and only done basic maintenance like replacing a few hydraulic lines and changing fluids.
    • narenst 6mo ago
      Can you share more about your hobby farm? I would love to learn more about how you got into that? My family had a small farm growing up and my parents are still actively working on the farm everyday and I would like to take that up at some point. So curious to hear what you farm and how much involved you are in the process.
      • rickypp 6mo ago
        We're in the very early stages, but the short is that we're raising highland cattle and starting to board horses. We started after my wife bought a horse and we realized boarding costs in a HCOL area are pretty close to a rural mortgage in a LCOL area. So we moved and bought a farm property. Then we bought a couple highland heifers because they're very cute and fluffy. We're working towards growing that herd up to have a few calves to sell each year for pasture pets / meat. The property is also well suited for horse boarding with a sand arena and lots of trails accessible from the back woods. These first few years will be pretty scrappy. Mostly getting all the pasture acres fenced properly and rebuilding the forage quality, plus setting up all the other infrastructure to keep things running smoothly longer term. My wife handles the day-to-day on feeding and caring for the animals, she is a trained farrier and a licensed veterinary technician so we have a big advantage there. I step in for the project work and infrastructure planning. And anything that's an excuse to run the MF135 (snow plowing, moving manure and dirt, grading the driveway, post hole digging, dragging, mowing, etc...)
• Robdel12 6mo ago
  This is the way if we can ensure manufacturing of the parts. It won’t catch on but it would be awesome to have “base” tractors that are mechanical and predictable. Then you slap on whatever software on top that helps (automation, etc). But they need to be decoupled imo.
  • godzillabrennus 6mo ago
    This is what a "bobcat" has become for UGV startups. It's a low tech proven platform that you can basically modify with attachments to do a lot of UGV work.
    • idiotsecant 6mo ago
      UGV?
      • deleted 6mo ago
        [deleted]
      • barbazoo 6mo ago
        From AI > A UGV (Unmanned Ground Vehicle) is a robotic vehicle that operates on the ground without a human driver onboard.
  • rolph 6mo ago
    i have a farmall hand cranked tractor, going on 90 years old, so far its been rubber parts, and clutch pads. as far as auto mation goes, thats how implements used to work. it was a tracter/thresher/combine. then a bale counter is slapped on then maybe row sighting or guidance, etc. if your really snazzy, the implement is actually mapping the soil for moisture, or rough composistion and holding data to use in reformulating or notating your current cultural plans, i.e. supplemental spot feeding and irrigation. actual agricultural needs, not just fluff.
    • greedo 6mo ago
      And how many acres are you farming on it? Today's world of agriculture is much higher tech-based (for many good reasons, primarily yield) than back in the horse and buggy days of farming.
• Hasz 6mo ago
  I think this is a reaction to the incredibly locked down ecosystem that most of these mfgs are pushing. However, the tech exists for a reason and is not inherently bad, the issue is the lock-in, the lack of choice and interoperability. IMO, there is plenty of space for an OEM who can play nice with others, offer an open (and vibrant ecosystem), and keep users coming back by choice, not by lock-in.
  • jt2190 6mo ago
    Ultimately the “lock in” boils down to “when this breaks someone has to pay to fix it”. Automation and tech makes the galaxy of things that can break much larger, and the pinpointing of “who should pay to fix this” much harder. “Lock in” feels like an attempt to simplify toward “only we can fix it”, with the downsides of cost and time.
  • sarchertech 6mo ago
    That’s part of the issue. But packing a tractor (or car) with electronics and computers does make it inherently harder to work on—even if it’s not locked down.
    • jcgrillo 6mo ago
      Exactly. Electronically controlled unit injectors are expensive--like 10x the price of mechanical ones. They're super cool, they can produce like 10 separate metered injection events per cycle. This is great for efficiency, noise, emissions, etc. But I can rebuild mechanical injectors with a bottle jack pop tester I made from $100 worth of parts and a bench vise. There's no wiring harness, no computer.. If the injector is getting fuel, has decent spray pattern, and is popping at the right pressure I know for certain the fuel system is good. With an electronic common rail system I need some expensive proprietary computer equipment to diagnose it, and there's no way I can build a test bench to rebuild those injectors.
      • amluto 6mo ago
        Surely there’s room for a middle ground. There are plenty of 1990s-era engines that were excellent designs, had no meaningful connectivity to anything except their own ECUs, and could be produced new for not very much money. Some of them were quite modular, too — I know someone who took the drivetrain out of a salvaged Honda Civic and built an entire car (with no resemblance whatsoever to a Civc) around it. If a tractor with a clean-burning, efficient $7500k engine could be purchased and were designed around the theory that, in 20 years or so, the owner could reasonably quickly replace the entire engine (with a first-party or aftermarket solution), would that be a good solution? The common tech that has solved these problems nicely (IMO) is network transceivers: SFP and similar modules are built according to multi-source agreements. They contain all kinds of exotic tech, and they are not intended to be serviced at all, but (unless your switch or NIC has an utterly stupid lockout) you can pull it out and replace it with an equivalent part from a different vendor in seconds, and those parts can be unbelievably inexpensive considering what’s in them. (Single-mode bidirectional 1Gbps transceivers are $11 or less, retail, in qty 2. This is INSANE compared the the first time I lit up a 1Gbps SMF link. To be fair, this particular tech may require one to replace both ends if one fails, but if you can spare a second fiber, the fully IEEE-spec-compliant interoperable ones are even less expensive.)
• petervandijck 6mo ago
  Ha - “Wilson saw the gap and drove a tractor through it.”
  • trekkie99 6mo ago
    Sounds like a big gap. Figures.
• jcgrillo 6mo ago
  Hell yeah 12V 5.9 Cummins. The one in my pickup has 250k hard miles on it, some blowby, and it starts right up at -10°F no problem.
• Papazsazsa 6mo ago
  "From whence this barbarous animus?" tweeted the technologist from the cauldron in which he boiled.
• red-iron-pine 6mo ago
  Danielle Smith never met a corporate shill she could say no to I predict 6 months before John Deer gets the Alberta UCP on the line and gets a law passed that bans "unsafe tractors" (or the like)
  • standeven 6mo ago
    Then again, she probably loves the idea of tractors with poor fuel efficiency and no exhaust cleaning tech.
    • jszymborski 6mo ago
      An anti-right to repair bill + a carbon tax (except this time it taxes you for not emitting).
  • slopinthebag 6mo ago
    [flagged]
    • xethos 6mo ago
      > sexist No, I thought Kenny was a schmuck too
    • jagged-chisel 6mo ago
      Where’s the sexism in the comment?
    • bregma 6mo ago
      I fail to see the sexism aspect to that comment. Can you elaborate?
      • red-iron-pine 6mo ago
        its a ~70 day old account with mostly mixed / downvoted comments defending conservative candidates by attempting to deflect via popular topics (in this case, gender and sexism) B O T
• jtbr 6mo ago
  Shows the attractiveness of “right to repair.” People want to own their stuff and not be forever beholden to the manufacturer.
• maerF0x0 6mo ago
  If the original article is of interest to you, this project might be too: https://www.opensourceecology.org/ https://www.opensourceecology.org/ https://wiki.opensourceecology.org/wiki/Open_Source_Ecology https://wiki.opensourceecology.org/wiki/Open_Source_Ecology
• deleted 6mo ago
  [deleted]
• llmslave 6mo ago
  This makes me think of the new toyotas, the rav4s, 4runner, and land cruiser. Through government regulations, they were forced to create smaller more fuel efficient engines. To get the same power, they overstrain them, and put huge turbos on the engines. The outcome is a strictly worse engine, that essentially uses the same fuel as older engines. The demand for older vehicles in certain segments is actually increasing
  • svnt 6mo ago
    This seems almost completely untrue? The new models have engines that are smaller turbos, that part is true — but they get >30% better fuel economy, and they output more power. The reliability might become an issue down the road especially in hybrid engines but the data so far don’t seem to support your assertions. The one exception is maybe the Tundra 3.4L but that seems to still be ambiguous as to the root cause, and may just be mfg process error.
    • llmslave 6mo ago
      This is what toyota marketing says
      • HeyLaughingBoy 6mo ago
        Toyota marketing says that they're selling you a worse engine?
    • cout 6mo ago
      I wonder if this notion comes from the 80s, when engines with turbos had lower compression ratios for reliability. Today's turbocharged motors have higher compression ratios than in the malaise era, and the turbos have a lot less lag. Turbos no longer mean you have to sacrifice fuel economy for performance (unless you have a lead foot).
      • PunchyHamster 6mo ago
        Nope, just engineering to do not much more for warranty. Turbo engines arent inherently unreliable (tho you might need to replace the turbo itself every 100-200k so still more expensive to maintain), just need to build extra strong block and components if you want it to run for a long time. And why would company do that if that would put it far over warranty period?
• jmward01 6mo ago
  I want this for cars but to keep the modern powertrain. So an EV without the tracking/touch screens, etc etc. Or an internal combustion engine car that is just simple and efficient (and again, no tracking). I'll take the low-tech but nice features like heated seats and power windows still thank you.
  • jadbox 6mo ago
    I'd love this. I really don't want my car to be an iPhone with "apps" and random background software on it. The car touchscreen was perhaps the worst design choice in the history of the automobile, and is likely the cause of countless crashes. It's insane when I see car UIs that have the 'cancel / go back' button located in DIFFERENT areas depending on the screen context.
    • throwaway85825 6mo ago
      The irony is cars got screens largely due to the backup camera mandate which was intended to be a safety feature. Governments are very bad at understanding unintended consequences.
      • brokencode 6mo ago
        Are you suggesting that governments shouldn’t require safety features because car manufacturers might implement them badly?
        • throwaway85825 6mo ago
          The EPA push for fuel efficiency made it easier to hit targets by selling huge trucks instead of small cars. There is a value in safety regulation but the incentives as legislated have led to negative results. It needs to be fixed or repealed. Not sure there's a clean solution here.
          • BirAdam 6mo ago
            Not only huge trucks, but all vehicles got larger.
• shrubble 6mo ago
  A friend is an organic farmer in Saskatchewan who has been buying specifically older mechanical only tractors; after a heart attack that will require him to sell off his farm, he’s finding lots of potential buyers.
  • whalesalad 6mo ago
    "old" tractors from 10+ years ago and new tractors are really ... not different at all. mechanically and structurally they are all the same. you can get a 20 year old deere/kubota tractor that might even be better than a new one because of the decline in manufacturing, cost cutting across materials etc. if well maintained they last forever, and the older gear is easier to work on.
• holoduke 6mo ago
  What is it with American companies that eventually always try to sell crap and low moral products/services. As if the people are educated in luring people into traps to only benefit themselves.
  • whalesalad 6mo ago
    this is what happens to every publicly traded company
  • AngryData 6mo ago
    That to me just seems like the inevitable result of capitalist market economy.
    • hunterpayne 6mo ago
      Its the result of MBAs and private equity. Capitalist market economies have existed since the dawn of civilization. Money literally predates writing and the first writings were often invoices. There is no inevitable result of capitalism as almost all of human history happened under some sort of capitalist system.
• bryanlarsen 6mo ago
  Is part of the appeal due to the fact that being remanufactured engines they don't need modern emissions control, aka Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF)? Farmers hate DEF.
  • whalesalad 6mo ago
    Anyone who actually has to use their equipment to get shit done dislikes DPF/regen. It's like Windows Update --- you might be in the middle of a serious task but screech "time for a scheduled update! we dgaf what kind of critical task you were just doing, you want updates!" Modern diesel systems equipped with DPF tech (which consumes DEF, the fluid) require a regen cycle which is kinda like an oven cleaning itself - they get super hot and burn away particulate before they can be used again. Farmers are more frustrated by the system than the fluid. In fact, DEF is really just piss (urea) which is the same kind of product that they use for fertilizer. Although the prices for urea have skyrocketed recently so perhaps they truly do hate DEF too. The awesome thing about these 'older' Cummins engines is yes they lack DEF systems and also have mechanical fuel injection. As is commonplace with diesel, there are no spark/glow plugs either. So ostensibly once you have the engine started, it requires zero electricity or computer systems to operate. The RPM of the engine dictates everything else mechanically through gearing. This is a big win for equipment that needs to "just work". Of course they still have sensors and all kinds of systems that are kinda layered on top... but they're not strictly required. This is also why the "runaway diesel" problem exists. You cannot stop an engine like this without starving it of air or fuel.
    • bri3d 6mo ago
      DPF (Diesel Particulate Filter) and SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction, which uses DEF, Diesel Exhaust Fluid) are two mostly different systems. DPF traps soot in a filter which then burns the soot off into gas later (regen). SCR reduces NOx using urea. This is important to know in the context of tractors because in the US, 25-74hp tractors generally need only DPF without SCR (there are basically three bins depending on horsepower level). This makes these midsized tractors a bit of a sweet spot for a lot of tasks; of course, you still have to deal with regen (which is where the DPF gets heated up to convert trapped soot into gas), which is annoying, but you at least don't have to fill up with DEF or risk the DEF injection system failing.
• iJohnDoe 6mo ago
  Good. There should be an option for a straightforward mechanical machine. This also has trickledown effect where hopefully regular town mechanics can fix things based on their historical knowledge of engines. Instead of not wanting to touch anything because of the all the electronics involved. Also, I know this is a strange parallel, but it feels similar to what Dell and HP did to their servers. They made the BIO so complicated that it takes 5-10 minutes for their severs to boot up. Using an older Dell server with a straightforward BIOS that boots up in 30 seconds feels awesome.
• gigatexal 6mo ago
  I wish someone would do something similar for TVs. Just a really fantastic panel with only the tech needed to decode HDMI or whatever and show it on the screen. No other tech whatsover: no telemetry, no smart anything, nothing.
  • eaf7e281 6mo ago
    Are you looking for a monitor? xD
    • intrikate 6mo ago
      No. Monitors are small, and suited for one person working close up. I am looking for a television without the "computer" inside of it. Yes, of course, it needs to have a computer to decode and display images, but I don't want it to be running a stripped back version of Android, that shipped out of date and hasn't received any updates, with apps that are laggy and often not current relative to other "smart" providers, that also takes pictures of my screen once every thirty seconds to tell the manufacturer what I'm watching and for how long, to build a better marketing profile on me. I want a big OLED panel with enough smarts to drive the screen. I will plug my own computer into the television, if the need should arise.
      • eaf7e281 6mo ago
        That's fair. We do have some fairly large monitor, but yeah, we still need a TV for 75 inches or larger.
• markus_zhang 6mo ago
  That's what I always want -- all of my appliances should look like the ones we got in the 90s/2000s. Some Chinese companies should take this niche or maybe not-niche field, sell at a premium, which hopefully is still cheaper than smart ones.
  • gf263 6mo ago
    Using my friends Speed Queen washer/dryer was such a revelation. I hate my Samsung washer/dryer.
    • markus_zhang 6mo ago
      I bought a LG one back in 2018 and so far it's working fine. I hope it can last more than 10 years.
  • simplyluke 6mo ago
    > Some Chinese companies should take this niche or maybe not-niche field, sell at a premium A friends dad sold his existing business and has been making $$$ in semi-rural texas importing and selling Chinese skid loaders. This market already exists.
    • markus_zhang 6mo ago
      Yeah but I don’t see many dumb appliances nowadays TBH.
• HNisCIS 6mo ago
  I feel this. I've been looking at ADV bikes and everything on the market has a cellular modem for always on cloud connectivity, and multiple vendors, including Zero (the electric internet darling) are offering paid feature unlocks via apps. On top of this, I looked at Zero's job postings and they're desperately trying to hire a firmware lead to get the team to use Claude Code (precisely what I want managing a 100hp motor under my ass). Not only are we in a world where everything is locked down with software, the software is about to get way worse and there's nothing you can do about it.
• morning-coffee 6mo ago
  Good. Simplicity should win out over enshittification in the end.
• m3kw9 6mo ago
  I would have thought would be 2x price
• HoldOnAMinute 6mo ago
  Now let's do washing machines and refrigerators
• vondur 6mo ago
  This is great, if there is some real competition, then we can see John Deere will have to figure out how to compete. Either with lower prices or less lock in.
  • simplyluke 6mo ago
    > if there is some real competition They can't scale this model up because they legally have to use rebuilt engines from the 90s to do it to get around modern diesel emissions regulations. It's illegal to build this kind of engine in the US new, there's no way to compete with Deere's scale.
    • jcgrillo 6mo ago
      [dead]
• steve1977 6mo ago
  No-tech tractor seems to be a bit of an oxymoron.
• adamcharnock 6mo ago
  Up until a year ago I was regularly using a Massy Fergusson 135 [0] (Perkins Diesel version), made sometime in the 1970s. It was wonderful! So amazing to drive and use. Clunky and heavy, but you really really felt like you were using a machine. In low gears, if you put you foot down on the accelerator the engine would roar, and your speed would barely change! And there was no fancy technology in it at all. If I was in the forest and had forgotten the key, I'd just reach behind the dashboard and hot-wire it. The air filter was basically a shisha-pipe that bubbled the incoming air through wire wool and engine oil. Its fuel gauge didn't work either. You just had to take a look in the tank, or quickly react as soon as the revs started dropping. I ran it dry a few times and had to sit there with a spanner in one hand and YouTube into the other, while trying to bleed all the fuel lines. But they were all on the outside of the vehicle, which made it comparatively easy I imagine. I've never actually driven a modern tractor, so don't know how it compares. I imagine the clutch is easier on the knees these days! Anyway, this just felt like the place to share this. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massey_Ferguson_135 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massey_Ferguson_135
  • mrexroad 6mo ago
    While I love wrenching on cars, I imagine a tractor like this would scratch a different itch—something more latent, leftover from childhood. Do you still have the Massy?
    • adamcharnock 6mo ago
      I do, but a friend is taking care of the farm now. I moved back to the big city lights (Munich, as fate would have it).
  • pavel_lishin 6mo ago
    My dad had one of these, to support his farming hobby. (He used to joke that we ate fifty dollar cucumbers, and a hundred-dollar ear of corn.) It came in handy living in the country, when occasionally someone would get bogged down on a dirt road, and this thing would come to the rescue.
• PunchyHamster 6mo ago
  That is honestly probably a bit too far. Going back to pre-ecu times is literally burning money for the owner in form of lower fuel efficiency.
• bri3d 6mo ago
  I wonder by what mechanism they plan to import these into the US. This seems like a emissions regulation end-run like glider trucks, but my understanding of the EPA import rules doesn't really leave any room for this type of game. Yes, a lot of modern tractors are locked down due to predatory dealer service lock-in, but they're also complex and locked down due to emissions regulations, which are ostensibly a net societal gain. The classic HN "everything should be totally open and free" conversation really needs to happen through this lens IMO.
  • pryanbeng 6mo ago
    0 chance these make it stateside. The company appears to be extremely misleading as to their Built in Alberta moniker. Im in the province and this article is making its rounds. Seems to be that they are just importing chinese built tractors and rebranding them: https://www.hanwoagri.com/tractor/all-purpose-medium-tractor-new.html https://www.hanwoagri.com/tractor/all-purpose-medium-tractor... Their facility in bowden AB is basically a tiny garage.
• measurablefunc 6mo ago
  > Pre-war EIA forecasts projected U.S. diesel prices would average $3.47/gallon in 2026. As of late March, the national average hit $5.37/gallon, roughly 55% above where it was expected to be. Diesel prices will continue to rise so it's not clear what these farmers are actually signing up for.
• verisimi 6mo ago
  Do they do cars?
  • PunchyHamster 6mo ago
    Can't, cars have mandatory emissions standards that pretty much need electronicially controlled fuel injection and a bunch of other crap to meet.
• uticus 6mo ago
  > The farm equipment industry spent 20 years adding complexity and cost. Ursa Ag is wagering that a significant number of farmers never wanted any of it. Nice tag line but not a complete picture. The "significant number of farmers" in terms of actual market spend driving the equipment industry is not mom-and-pop outfits but rather agri-industrial complexes with machines to match. What they want is (1) availability and (2) ROI. For (1), that is first and foremost subject to legal stipulations like EPA etc, then secondly subject to production availability. For (2), electronics are the name of the game if you are looking to turn a profit with farming because counting every seed, measuring every drop of chem, and tracking every inch of plotted ground leads to better ROI.
  • mcmcmc 6mo ago
    Farming is a way of life for a lot of people, not just a business. That’s what is missing from your picture. And by population, small time farmers significantly outnumber industrial outfits, regardless of how much they spend. Sure you can make more money selling the most advanced tech to the biggest spenders. That doesn’t mean there isn’t a market for affordable, reliable equipment that gets the job done. Add on the risky nature of farming and its untenable to trap yourself in high 6 figures of debt and pray that you can optimize your way to enough profit to pay the interest.
    • azernik 6mo ago
      "regardless of how much they spend" is not a statement that you can put in a business plan
      • deleted 6mo ago
        [deleted]
    • rdbl27 6mo ago
      Not so. In fact, farming is a way of life for almost nobody in developed countries.[1] Ursa shows us that there is indeed a market for "simple and reliable" equipment -- but it's not cheap or affordable. There is zero market for "affordable" equipment, because almost nobody does small scale farming anymore Small farms became economically and socially irrelevant almost a century ago in developed countries. Petroleum based fertilizer and industrial machinery drove the marginal cost of food to zero, and it is now only profitable to farm at very large industrial scale. The main social outcome there was that starvation and malnutrition became vanishingly rare in these countries. (In fact, _obesity_ is now, for the first time in human history, a widespread problem for the poorest in these societies.) Society chose "nobody starving" as a better outcome than preserving romantic small farms for the sake of tradition. [1] Less than 1% of the US population works in agriculture today (https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF12961 https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/IF12961) as compared to ~30% in the early 20th century.
• Tade0 6mo ago
  > The 150-horsepower model starts at $129,900 CAD, about $95,000 USD. The range-topping 260-hp version runs $199,900 CAD, around $146,000. Meanwhile, across the Atlantic, the MTZ Belarus 82.3 can be had for the equivalent of $50k. It's a simple machine for a simpler time, so obviously doesn't meet any emissions regulations. But at least in my region farmers went to great lengths to acquire them - even illegally. By the time the tractors are confiscated, they'll more than pay for themselves.
  • devilbunny 6mo ago
    It's also got half the power output.
• fleroviumna 6mo ago
  [dead]
• joshstrange 6mo ago
  I don't think the issue is "smarts" in our cars/tractors/light-switches/etc but the lock-in and "authorized repair" bullshit. On the topic of Smart Home stuff (which is the only topic I'm even slightly qualified to talk about) I've heard about people wanting "dumb houses" after initially people wanting "smart houses". It's my opinion that this desire is driven mainly due to bad experiences and doing smart homes the "wrong way". What do I mean by that? Either they got burned by XYZ Smart company going under and all their cloud-dependant devices dying/bricking. they had a system like Control4 which required authorized resellers to make even basic changes [0], and/or they were overwhelmed with juggling 5 different apps/platforms that don't talk to each other. That doesn't mean smart homes are bad, just that the hardware/software was bad. I fully recognize that for the "normal" person the only options are currently "bad hardware/software" or "dumb house" but there _are_ better alternatives. My philosophy for "Smart Home" is one of progressive enhancement (and graceful degradation). What that means is everything I "enhance" with "smarts" should still work the old way that people are accustomed to. Every light in the house can be controlled via "Alexa|Siri|Google turn off the Kitchen Light" but they can also be turned off/on by walking over to the wall and flipping a switch [1]. This means Smart Switches _not_ Smart Bulbs [2]. If my Home Assistant (yes, I'm one of those people) server goes offline, everything still works, the switches work, the door lock works with a key, the garage still opens. My "smart-ifying" of the house is not replacing the way to do something, it's only adding additional control. In addition to that, and something that should come as no surprise, I refuse to use a cloud, or at least depend on a cloud for my smart home. For this reason I prefer Z-Wave/Zigbee devices. If the manufacturer goes out of business it doesn't matter (no pun intended [3]). While I can, and have, used cloud integrations with Home Assistant, I try to make sure that's just a stopgap to decide if I want to go all-in. I own a few Z-wave devices from companies that don't exist anymore and they have been chugging along without issue for years. I love that stability. There is nothing in my house where you have to walk over to a wall tablet to control something or open an app on your phone, I would consider that a failure. Everything flows through Home Assistant, it's the brain, I don't want multiple apps fighting or different ecosystems that don't mesh (radio-wise or functionality-wise). What does this have to do with tractors? Glad you asked! I see this as the same for tractors, they should absolutely be "dumb" with the ability to control/query parts of it and add the "smarts" through an external system. Whatever the equivalent of Z-wave would be for monitoring/controlling the device, not something built-in or required for functionality. A modular, non-locked-down system. I'm sure we are nowhere near that point but I write all this as a "don't throw the baby out with the bathwater", I think John Deere was wrong in how they went about adding "smarts" but I don't think the idea is without merit either. They went down the greedy, anti-right-to-repair route which is clearly wrong. I'd love to see a combo of Ursa Ag's tractor as a base platform where smarts can be added to it without compromising it's repairability. A take on the "naked robotic core"-idea if you will. [0] And each time you have a authorized reseller come out they try to sell you on an expensive upgrade because they make (most) their money on selling you stuff, not maintaining it. I really dislike Control4 and things like it. [1] Point of clarification, I use Decora style paddles as is common on smart switches. The only downside (IMHO) to my system is they always "rest" in the middle orientation so they are "worse" than "dumb switches" in that you can't look at the switch and see the state it's in. That said, 3-way switches have already eroded this ability and I feel like this is an acceptable trade off. Maybe in the future people will care enough to make the switch represent the state correctly (with little servos flipping it) but I don't feel like I'm missing much. You may disagree. [2] My exception to this rule is I will allow a Smart Bulb as long as there is also a Smart Switch. Maybe you can't change to color temperature via hardware on the wall but you can always still turn it on/off at the wall. Graceful degradation. [3] My information might be out of date but I have very little interest in Thread/Matter, I don't want my smart devices to _ever_ talk to the cloud. Which is why I love Z-wave/Zigbee, they talk to my hub, my hub talks to whatever I want/approve. I never want my devices updating (or more likely, bricking) due to the cloud. I understand that Thread/Matter do not immediately mean "cloud" and in fact might even require local control but I'll believe it when I see it. So far Thread/Matter have been a massive nothing-burger IMHO. Maybe in a few years I'll be all-in on it but so far, I don't find it compelling at all.
• holysantamaria 6mo ago
  What prevents these no tech tractors to be electric?
  • opengrass 6mo ago
    October to April in Saskatchewan.
  • deleted 6mo ago
    [deleted]
  • asadotzler 6mo ago
    Almost certainly it's energy density for long running, high load usage. If a family car energy usage is 1x, then a light duty truck is about 1.5x, and a heavy duty truck doing hauling or towing is about 4x. A medium sized farm tractor would probably be 20x or more. In that light, it's not hard to see how cars and light trucks could fare well with today's battery energy density, while heavy duty trucks are at the limits. For a tractor, it's not even close. I do think we'll see smaller tractors going electric in about 10-15 years.
    • bluGill 6mo ago
      For small tractors many only use them for an hour per day - often mowing the lawn once a week. I have used mine all day cutting wood - and only but 15 minutes on the engine (the rest was me running the chain saw of loading something by hand). Which is to say an electric tractor would be great for me, but for most farmers useless.
    • folmar 6mo ago
      Heavy duty trucks run well on electric in the EU at least, as the work time regulation make for regular charging and lower speed limits for trucks makes the consumption manageable.
  • coryrc 6mo ago
    They get used in burst cycles -- like 10 days straight at harvest time, other times not started for months. Battery cost per kwh used is very low amortized over its full lifespan, but if you only use it to 1% of its capability your costs are now 100x higher. Now, hang a high voltage wire down from a big-ass catenary, so you don't need batteries, and it'll be cheaper upfront and in use, but nobody does that because of 1. safety 2. if everybody did it the grid would need upgrades
• yufiz 6mo ago
  farmers still need tech, they should try provide software (not too much). just the prefect amount and don't become evil like deere.
• keane 6mo ago
  Better photos are found on their site: https://ursa-ag.com https://ursa-ag.com Video the press are taking stills from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDR6g9iG9Ds https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDR6g9iG9Ds Interview with more details on trade show floor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9QxeNyKbB4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9QxeNyKbB4
• childintime 6mo ago
  Wait? No electric tractors yet? Swappable batteries would be perfect.
  • quickthrowman 6mo ago
    A tractor does actual work like pulling an implement like a plow or spinning the PTO to power a machine like a wood splitter or well drill. Airplane engines are rebuilt every 5,000ish miles because they’re constantly running at like 50% load, it’s much harder on the engine than moving a car, a tractor is very similar. Car engines do very little work once you’re up to speed, it only takes a fraction of the max power available to keep the car moving. This is why EVs are possible. Running a tractor engine under load requires a lot of energy, battery density isn’t quite there yet, diesel has around 50x more energy by weight than a battery.
    • ericpauley 6mo ago
      Off by an order of magnitude. Average TBO (which airplane engines routinely exceed if they don’t rust out) is 2,000 hours assuming piston, or about 300,000 miles for a Piper Arrow at cruise speed.
      • quickthrowman 6mo ago
        My apologies, I forgot that airplane engines are tracked by running time and not miles!
      • jaza 6mo ago
        Thanks for clarifying, I thought that sounded wrong - otherwise aeroplane engines would have to be "rebuilt", each and every time, after more than half of all international flights in and out of Australia (5000 miles, aka 8000km, is just down the road to grab a sausage roll for us!).
      • jabl 6mo ago
        For comparison, latest commercial turbofans approach 6000h (they don't have a strict TBO limit AFAIU, overhauls are decided based on various inspections and measurements). At a typical airliner speed that's something like 3,000,000 miles.
• everyone 6mo ago
  John Deere gonna send fucking assassins after them. Or probably engage them in some endless lawsuit.
• culi 6mo ago
  Love to see repairability prioritized. The HN crowd would enjoy the Global Village Construction Kit's work on an open-source tractor https://www.opensourceecology.org/gvcs/ https://www.opensourceecology.org/gvcs/ https://www.opensourceecology.org/portfolio/tractor/ https://www.opensourceecology.org/portfolio/tractor/ https://www.opensourceecology.org/microtractor-workshop/ https://www.opensourceecology.org/microtractor-workshop/ And their other open source machines they deemed "critical for civilization" https://www.opensourceecology.org/gvcs/gvcs-machine-index/ https://www.opensourceecology.org/gvcs/gvcs-machine-index/
  • stackedinserter 6mo ago
    Does this project go anywhere? Looks like it's at the same stage it was 10 years ago.
    • 6510 6mo ago
      Their internet things are quite terrible but they do workshops and build things.
    • culi 6mo ago
      They're not very online but they are still doing workshops and stuff in person. Their home page shows some events in 2025 but if you really wanna get involved you would probably need to connect offline. I have a friend of a friend who's involved and they seem pretty dedicated
      • stackedinserter 6mo ago
        So what's their status now? Do they have plans/BOM's for, say, the tractor?
• DarenWatson 6mo ago
  [dead]
• DontBreakAlex 6mo ago
  This sounds good until you remember that we have all these electronics precisely to avoid the 1955 smog situation and climate change. Going back to 1990-era cars isn't solving anything. What we need is a patent and intellectual property reform. My personal opinion is that the same company shouldn't be allowed to sell both the hardware and the software. Open source ECU, anyone?
• burnt-resistor 6mo ago
  One minor gotcha is they're currently dependent upon a limited supply of remanufactured and no longer available (NLA) parts. Some supplier(s) is going to have step up and make new ones to keep building and supporting tractors. It's not an unsolvable problem. For anyone who likes rural shop repair videos of farm (mostly older), passenger, and commercial vehicles of all makes and ages from ancient to modern, they might appreciate Watch Wes Work. https://www.youtube.com/c/WatchWesWork https://www.youtube.com/c/WatchWesWork
• silexia 6mo ago
  We badly need right to repair for everything from tractors to iphones.
• throwa356262 6mo ago
  Related: "Deere settles US right-to-repair lawsuit with $99 million fund, repair commitments" https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/deere-settles-us-right-to-repair-lawsuit-with-99-million-fund-repair-commitments-2026-04-07/ https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulat...
• water-drummer 6mo ago
  So better and cheaper? I am no farmer but I'd like to have one
• sandworm101 6mo ago
  I saw George Bush at a tractor factory. He asked what the most important tractor innovation was. No hesitation whatsoever ... air conditioning. AC and a radio, and backup cameras ... there is a place for reasonable electronics.
• chung8123 6mo ago
  I bought a chinese mini excavator. It is super simple and I am sure things will break on it (I already had a qc issue with the fuel gauge) but I don't fear things breaking. With the competitors the dealer had to service everything. With the chinese one I text someone on whatsapp, diagnose remotely, and they send me a part. Honestly I like this model more. If you have a lot of money the dealer is great.
  • SkyPuncher 6mo ago
    Mine comes in tomorrow. When researching, I was amazed at the simplicity of these machines. The engine is essentially available at Harbor Freight, then it’s basically just a hydraulic pump and valves. When things break, I’m sure I can find a replacement part or hack something together.
    • hattmall 6mo ago
      Which one did you buy?
      • SkyPuncher 6mo ago
        AGT dm12x-plus. I liked that it had the dual speed walk mode. Don't want to be creeping around the yard.
• Hard_Space 6mo ago
  Drove a no-tech tractor working on a farm in Tuscany in the early/mid-90s. Best driving experience ever.
• thot_experiment 6mo ago
  This is the way. The number one metric for any tool is how much you care TRUST it, and the number two metric for any tool is how quickly you can fix it when it breaks, and number three is how easy it is to understand and modify for your particular purpose.
• insane_dreamer 6mo ago
  We need this for cars.
• azifali 6mo ago
  Absolutely love this! Cummins is a well established engine. Plenty of opportunity to disrupt without having to build out a boatload of tech.
• eagerpace 6mo ago
  Slap a few cheap cameras, a GPS receiver, and Comma.ai and you're fully automated.
  • aembleton 6mo ago
    You'd need steering, throttle and braking actuators as well as radar to get comma.ai working with it.
• DonThomasitos 6mo ago
  Part of the story why we can‘t feel the hypothetical productivity gains of the last century is that certain goods became 1. more expensive and 2. last shorter. This movement (as mentioned in the tractor example) might be the result of people realizing this: what drives GDP (expensive throw away crap) might not always drive wealth.
  • kmacdough 6mo ago
    [flagged]
• therealdkz 6mo ago
  [dead]
• d--b 6mo ago
  I think there is a market for cars as well. 15 years ago, Dacia used to make stripped sedans that sold for as cheap as 7.5k euros. It was a wild success. Now, they've pivoted to making modern cars, still on the cheap side, but the cheapest now is a compact car that sells for 13k. The only reason is that those modern cars have higher margins and there is no competition for cheap cars. So why make cheap cars to kill the market of higher margins ones? The free market, if it works at all, should produce companies like wheelfront that caters to that share of the population.
• Waterluvian 6mo ago
  This feels like a great opportunity for Canada. We have tremendous need for tractors. The skillset for automotive/machinery and farming. A need for domestic industry development. Offers another non-American option. These don’t suffer as much from tech supply chain pains by not being full of electronics.
• coder97 6mo ago
  I think the trend we are seeing with tractors and cars is a circular one that the industry isn't ready for: we moved from pure mechanical machines to "mechanical + some electronics," and we are currently in the "some mechanical + more electronics" phase. But the next logical step for longevity is a return to "mostly mechanical" interfaces powered by open standards. The problem isn't the presence of electronics. It's the use of electronics as a proprietary layer to gatekeep physical hardware. When a tractor becomes a "software platform," the farmer loses the ability to perform basic maintenance because of DRM and encrypted ECU handshakes. We need to treat the electronics as a component of the tool, not the owner of the tool. If the software is the only thing preventing a mechanical machine from functioning, that's not a feature but a defect
• bethekidyouwant 6mo ago
  A good ox is even cheaper
• crazygringo 6mo ago
  I'm not totally sure I understand. I expected these to be selling for twice the price, not half price. I thought the whole idea of so much of the tech is to be able to lock you in and make profit that way, through servicing and features and subscriptions and whatever else. If they're giving up that entire profit stream, they have to make money somewhere else. So how are they selling these for so much less and still making a profit? What am I missing?
  • dietr1ch 6mo ago
    You are seeing the price cuts of simplicity.
  • nemo44x 6mo ago
    There’s very little R&D cost. Possibly little cap-ex as the infra to build exists.
  • GenerWork 6mo ago
    They're using an absolutely ancient engine from Cummins that has probably paid off its r&d and assembly line costs at least 10x over. It has virtually no pollution controls on it like DEF or DPF. That alone is saving a fair amount of money.
    • erikerikson 6mo ago
      /woosh But I could be wrong. I can't know but I'm pretty sure the GP was writing tongue in cheek. As in mocking the business strategies that have been eroding the engines of our economy.
      • crazygringo 6mo ago
        Actually, no. I don't like the modern business strategies but they are what they are. The only reason many consumer televisions are as cheap as they are is because they're being subsidized with advertisements. It's the same thing with the razor and blades model, where the razor is sold at a loss and the profit comes from the replacement blades. Or the game console model, where the console is much cheaper than an equivalently powered PC because the profit is made on the games. Low upfront purchase prices are subsidized by future income streams which can be enforced with technological locking. If you don't have that, the upfront purchase price generally has to be much higher.
• Devasta 6mo ago
  A few years ago, during the initial stages of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, John Deere was remotely bricking any tractors that were stolen by Russia. https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/01/europe/russia-farm-vehicles-ukraine-disabled-melitopol-intl https://edition.cnn.com/2022/05/01/europe/russia-farm-vehicl... I'm sure this was meant to be a story about the bad guys being thwarted, but it only made my blood run cold. A single company can remotely destroy the agricultural sector of a country if they felt like it. This is a welcome development.
• adverbly 6mo ago
  This but for cars This but for TVs This but for robot vacuums This but for security cameras This but for baby monitors This but for washing machines This but for fridges Anyone else got any requests?
  • 650REDHAIR 6mo ago
    Maybe for "motorcycles" like Aptera. Large car manufactures will lobby to avoid competition of barebones, cheap cars.
    • gnarcoregrizz 6mo ago
      most motorcycles are low tech outside of adv and $$ cruisers. they still make kick started carb'd 2 strokes. the 4 strokes are almost all EFI with electric start now (the Suzuki drz just added FI last year, lol. I think the bike has otherwise been unchanged since the 90s?). plenty of older carbeurated machines still exist. even the electric motos (especially those coming out of china) are low tech. just a battery, bms, controller and motor pretty much, with a minimal display.
  • Kaibeezy 6mo ago
    There was a blender that uses a printed or CNC case and basic repair parts for all the mechanicals… Open Funk re:Mix blender https://www.openfunk.co/pages/re-mix https://www.openfunk.co/pages/re-mix
    • rocmcd 6mo ago
      Lovely. Thanks for sharing. Are there directories for similar items? I love the idea of a simple, single purpose device that has maintenance and repair-ability at the forefront.
  • manesioz 6mo ago
    Literally every appliance. Printers, toasters, dishwashers, ...
• dietr1ch 6mo ago
  I think this just shows how much distrust is in technology improving things nowadays.
  • applfanboysbgon 6mo ago
    I don't know if distrust is the right word, because it's right out there in the open: a significant amount of technology is objectively not used for improving your life. It's used for improving a CEO's bank account. Technology has been actively and intentionally weaponised against consumers to strip more and more of their rights away in the name of the almighty dollar, and anyone with eyes can see it.
  • 9rx 6mo ago
    What makes you go to distrust? It is clearly about affordability. That is the issue in the farm machinery market. Someone who is currently running a 50 year old machine that is worn out and in need of replacement simply cannot afford a new tractor with all the modern bells and whistles. If they could, they'd have upgraded long ago. They might be able to afford a new tractor that is built to 50-year-old standards. That is the bet being made here. Although, honestly, from my farmer perspective I think that is even a stretch. Someone needing to replace their 50 year old machine right now is more likely to look at a 20 year old used machine with a smaller outlay than the brand new Ursa. They are considerably less pricy than a Deere or Fendt, but still pretty capital insensitive relative to what a farmer in the market they are trying to address can justify. Granted, there is no doubt someone out there who is willing to pay for the "new car smell". There is always someone out there who will buy what you are selling, no matter what it is you are trying to sell. The question, as always, is: Are there enough buyers out there to keep the cash flowing? The fact that they still have 2025 models sitting on their lot that aren't moving, I'm thinking not, but we shall see. Kudos for them being willing to try.
• forinti 6mo ago
  Belarus makes tractors. I bet people could have had these kinds of tractors long ago if not for the sanctions.
  • dlahoda 6mo ago
    dictatorship is anticompetitive practice(slaves work is cheap) and relying on its produce to produce essentials is national security issue.
    • forinti 6mo ago
      There's no doubt that it's a dictatorship, but Belarusian citizens are not slaves. Furthermore, when have sanctions achieved anything other than suffering for the people? Plus, I'm pretty sure that some sanctions are very convenient for some parties on this side of the game.
      • dlahoda 6mo ago
        > Belarusian citizens are not slaves. These laws de facto prevent most of Belorussians leave country long term and force them to work (even if they do not need to): - Decree No. 3 “О содействии занятости населения”(including redaction from 2018) - Decree №278 and Decree №294 There is more laws added overtime, reality on the ground even more harsher of laws - North Korea style. I doubt anybody would argue that there is no slavery in NK.
      • dlahoda 6mo ago
        > sanctions achieved anything other than suffering for the people? I feel that some sanctions indeed `achieved anything other than suffering for the people`, but I did not research.
• asdfman123 6mo ago
  Hopefully this gains traction
  • jaza 6mo ago
    Very punny :P
• missedthecue 6mo ago
  I wonder how sustainable the business model is. Eventually, you saturate the market with your tractors, and if they work as advertised, they are owned and maintained for decades. A lot of people are out there farming with 60-80 year old tractors. I would suspect most of the OEM parts that need replacing are where most wear and tear is happening (the engine). Those parts come from Cummins, not this startup. In the meantime, they have to maintain a very high fixed cost base in their factory, distribution network, and skilled unionized workforce. I'm really not even asking about how will they maximize shareholder dividends, I just mean how do you not go bankrupt after you sell your first 10,000 tractors.
  • kokanee 6mo ago
    The disincentive to provide a durable product is unfortunate. Ideally businesses pair high-ticket one-time sales with low-cost recurring sales of related products and services.
  • jp0d 6mo ago
    > maximize shareholder dividends This is the whole reason why middle class is dying and power and wealth are being consolidated amongst the rich.
    • deleted 6mo ago
      [deleted]
  • adamtaylor_13 6mo ago
    Must we sell more than 10,000? That seems like a reasonable check for a small business to take home and go solve some other problem for someone. The thing is, your reputation will get out there. Folks will want to work with you because of who you are; it'll be profitable (in many ways) even if it isn't a 100-year dynasty.
    • missedthecue 6mo ago
      So lay off thousand of employees, shutter a factory, close dozens of distribution centers. Degrowth has real world consequences for real world people, and sustainability is generally good.
• dorksquad 6mo ago
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• mvkel 6mo ago
  Reduce, reuse, recycle. Before buying new, aren't there enough tractors from the 60s, 70s, 80s that are still salvageable? The general aviation world has Cessna 172s from the 50s still going strong; why buy new?
  • vl 6mo ago
    These tractors are not new, they are rebuilt.
    • happyopossum 6mo ago
      No, only the engines are remanufactured - the tractors are new.
      • jimnotgym 6mo ago
        And a remanufactured engine can easily be better than it was when it left the original factory.
  • jillesvangurp 6mo ago
    Cessna 172s are great if you are learning to fly. But most people using these things for actually getting from A to B will be looking for something with a bit more range, speed, etc. That still might be sixty year old plane but one with a bigger engine; or two of them even. And if you want to go really fast you get something with a turbo prop or even jet engines. The newer ones are a bit more efficient with the fuel but also more in demand and therefore more expensive. You get what you pay for. My understanding of the aviation market is that there are some bargains to be had with planes that are old but still very servicable. But if you are flying longer distances regularly, you kind of gravitate towards the more expensive ones. Because they go faster, use less fuel, are more comfortable, have more useful load, etc. The point of a tractor is that is used to do useful work by farmers who earn their living working these things hard. If they break down, work stops until that can be fixed. The value of being able to fix these machines yourself is that you get them back in action quickly. But the value of a newer one is that it presumably wouldn't need a lot of fixing to begin with. And maximizing power while minimizing fuel usage means the job gets done quicker and at a lower cost. And that's what modern manufacturers sell of course. IMHO, electric is going to revolutionize farming. Diesel is expensive (a lot more lately). And farmers burn a lot of it. Electric motors are small, reliable, quiet, etc. They have loads of torque. And if you are a farmer, you have plenty of space to harvest your own electricity with solar panels and maybe a wind mill and some batteries. There is a growing amount of high end stuff available in this space but also very affordable low end stuff. And this technology can be very simple and tinker friendly. Buy some old EV batteries wire them up and you can make anything with wheels move. Including really old tractors, pickup trucks, etc. Anything from the largest mining trucks to the smallest lawn mower can already be powered by batteries. And everything in between. With battery cost dropping, there are very few obstacles that prevent adoption left. Mostly import tariffs in the US.
• lettergram 6mo ago
  You can get a kubota M5-111 with a closed cab for $70k-100k, cheaper than these. Plus zero percent financing though then for 5-7 years. Well built and a comparable class in terms of weight and horse power. People aren’t buying them for price, but the first sentence discusses it as if it’s relevant. My assumption are farmers are trying to skirt the eco rules for vehicles in some way. Which by the way is insanely annoying and has caused issues for all the farmers I know at one point or another. Worse, you can’t fix the ecosystems on your own so you have to get them serviced costing quite a bit and importantly putting your tractor out of commission for a while. It’s why older tractors have a premium
  • happyopossum 6mo ago
    105hp va 150hp is not a “comparable class”… Also, the ursa tractors have warranties too…
    • lettergram 6mo ago
      They're both considered medium tractors with similar weights for a similar purpose. I forget the official weights, but it's something like 100-175HP is mid-tier.
  • simplyluke 6mo ago
    > My assumption are farmers are trying to skirt the eco rules for vehicles in some way. They're using remanufactured 90s cummins for this reason. They're pre-DEF. Modern regulations have killed the diesel engine as a reliable workhorse. It's easy to write off the woes of this segment as corporate greed, but we've made it illegal to build a simple reliable tractor like this. > The Kubota M5-111 is a 105.6 HP utility tractor that uses Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) to meet Tier 4 emission standards, with common issues including Code 202A, DEF sensor failures, and clogged injectors. The system includes a dedicated tank and filter (Part #1J508-19660). Owners often report issues with the DEF system causing power derates, leading some to consider deletion or repair, though these issues can cause significant downtime
    • 6mo ago
• unit149 6mo ago
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• hedora 6mo ago
  I’m genuinely confused. Why not buy an entry level kubota? I guess the startup is selling low tech stuff in the 100-200hp range, but you start getting computers and stuff at that point with the conventional manufacturers? They certainly sell sub 100 hp / $100K tractors that are reliable and low tech, so I’m struggling to see any differentiator except the engine size. Also, half price is an odd claim. The Kubota M6 looks comparable to the $130K option from the startup, but starts at $100K. I can’t read the article because cloudflare is blocking iOS now, apparently. Also, for the small-medium range, a BEV or plugin / serial hybrid powertrain would be a game changer. Lots of low end weight, infinite torque at low speeds, and no hearing protection required to operate it. Also, it wouldn’t get as wicked hot in the summer for the operator, nor would it dump diesel exhaust everywhere. A low tech version of that would be compelling (similar to slate). Edit: they could even use standard mounts electrical for the generator and common battery packs, so if either powerplant blew up, it’d be a bolt-in replacement. The actual electric motors probably would never blow out.
  • happyopossum 6mo ago
    You’re rounding down the Kibota price (starts at 109k) and mixing in Canadian $.. You get a cummins 12v with more power than an m6 (and bigger more capable chassis) for ~10k less than the kubota.
• fchicken 6mo ago
  Tech will consume itself. It is with glee that I will watch it burn.
  • sl-1 6mo ago
    Sadly it will also burn other stuff around. If it would only eat itself, I would watch with glee. But when it eats the life-sphere and our lifesupport before, I feel less gleeful
    • fchicken 6mo ago
      Life-sphere will learn a valuable lesson
• canbus 6mo ago
  Love a Cummins. The Bosch plunger pump is like a mini-me engine on the side of the block!
• azzentys 6mo ago
  This is a great initiative. However, I feel that "no-tech" shouldn't be a target and that isn't necessarily good. Ex. Precision tech helps reduce operator fatigue and increases efficiency with respect to equipment operation time and material used. This isn't to say that tech can't be shoved in every other panel on the tractor - but hope this drives Big companies towards considering where tech is necessary and where it's not.
  • happyopossum 6mo ago
    > Precision tech helps reduce operator fatigue and increases efficiency with respect to equipment operation time and material used That’s the kind of MBA speak a giant corporate food production facility loves to hear, but not a farmer.
    • azzentys 6mo ago
      That's untrue. I know a farmer, who buys a John Deere combine before harvest. It stays unused until his harvests are done, and returns it by end of harvest season incurring $30k on this entire transaction. Why does he do that? Because he has two weeks to finish up harvesting or start incurring losses on his harvest. Farmer does care about saving costs/losses AND getting the job done in time.
      • Toutouxc 6mo ago
        That's interesting, why don't farmers run some sort of common reserve pools of vehicles, as a form of insurance?
        • jimnotgym 6mo ago
          The trouble is they all need them at the same time. In the UK you will see farmers in a break in the weather, all out testing the moisture in the wheat. As soon as it is right it is all hands to get it in on every farm before it rains again!
        • azzentys 6mo ago
• SlightlyLeftPad 6mo ago
  Can I invest? I have no need for a no-tech tractor but I would love to support a real challenger to John Deere’s near complete monopoly.
  • defrost 6mo ago
    In Queensland, Australia SwarmFarm might be worth a look - they're already deep into driverless automated agriculture .. making a non John Deere tech stack. https://www.swarmfarm.com/technology/ https://www.swarmfarm.com/technology/ - West Australian grain farmer (4,500 hectares, barley, grains) reviews a fully automated driverless swarm bot in boom spray configuration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljEKN7CsjnM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljEKN7CsjnM
    • SlightlyLeftPad 6mo ago
      That’s interesting. I’m really more curious about modern precision machines that are repairable on the field by third parties. Do you know if these would fall into that category? The main thing that makes John Deere anti-competitive and adversarial is their policy of not allowing third-party repairs.
      • defrost 6mo ago
        That's a good question, I'll chase that up when I have a chance. As a general rule (there will be exceptions), Australian companies don't do that kind of lock-in .. Australia has strong consumer protection laws although it does currently lacks a "right to repair". * https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/problem-with-a-product-or-service-you-bought/repair-replace-refund-cancel https://www.accc.gov.au/consumers/problem-with-a-product-or-... * https://lawpath.com.au/blog/what-is-the-right-to-repair https://lawpath.com.au/blog/what-is-the-right-to-repair The mechanical side of capital equipment maintenance is straight forward enough here, there's strong community of mechanically savvy types and generally mechanics and engineering aren't "opaque" as things can be visually inspected and taken apart .. software, however, is a whole other level. I like to encourage open stacks, eg: Flight Gear has a lot in it ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FlightGear https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FlightGear ) and can be used to spin off grid coverage planning for aerial platforms with sensor feedback integration, not altogether too far away from something similar for ground platforms. In the agricultural domain in Australia farmers can flex back against companies to a reasonable degree given the number and size of co-op's here (eg: https://www.cbh.com.au/ https://www.cbh.com.au/ is owned by local farmers about me and can rumble in a way that John Deere has to respond to or drop out of consideration for billions in sales over a cycle of years) The real problem I see with a company like (say) SwamFarm is being taken over by VC money, as the NZ GPS stock 'shock' collar invisible fence company was recently .. and now dairy farmers have their daily stock control decisions being "passed through" an off shore third party that can siphon data, increase charges, and enshittify.
• stego-tech 6mo ago
  I've been musing with friends that this is a growing and untapped market. Not merely for analog-only tractors or heavy machinery, but for stripped-down/basic machinery in general. EVs eschewing the myriad of sensors and driver assists that talk back to the cloud in favor of cruise control, local cameras, and a double-din slot for aftermarket head units; cars built for simplicity of ownership and maintenance rather than service revenue extraction; computers that get work done and turn off after, rather than constantly phoning home with cloud accounts and telemetry. It's nice to see this company doing well for itself so quickly, and I hope they deliver on every promise made while reaping immense success. At the very least, it'd send a clear and unambiguous message that the market for simplicity is there and desperate for products that cater to it.
  • Cthulhu_ 6mo ago
    I can only applaud it, however the challenge will be to make it meet modern standards / requirements for things like emissions and safety.
• liam-chen 6mo ago
  I grew up in farm. and I can tell you. this is actually a good deal! I really good deal!!! You don't really need that much tech in a tractor. you just want to make it work, and make it last long enough.
• elwebmaster 6mo ago
  Next up, cars with no-tech! Bring them on.
• diogenescynic 6mo ago
  I predict the next trend in technology will be low tech or analog whenever possible like SpeedQueen washer/dryers, etc. It's funny looking at antique appliances that actually have superior functionality and features to modern ones. There are old washing machines that have much faster rinse rotation speeds and can empty the water within seconds and almost always have replaceable parts. We need to somehow require machines and appliances be built like this and not this disposable trash we have become used to.
• simplyluke 6mo ago
  Late to the party here, so I don't expect this to get a lot of traction, but I'd like to point out that part of the reason this hasn't existed until recently as an option in the US is because it's functionally illegal for it to exist. > The 12-valve Cummins is arguably the most widely understood diesel engine in North America. Every independent shop, every shade-tree mechanic with a set of wrenches, every farmer who grew up turning bolts has encountered one. That's great! I'd point out the 12 valve wasn't introduced until the 90s, but that's kind of immaterial -- it's as simple to work on as any other mechanically injected analog diesel is and they were in widespread use for nearly a century before that. One immediately wonders why we moved away from these and towards more complex options, and why this startup has to remanufacture old engines instead of sourcing new engines. The answer among those of us who care about right to repair tends to be "evil corporations want to make proprietary systems that require ongoing fees!" which is true for John Deere, but also, the EPA mandated DEF/DPF systems + limp modes on all farm equipment since 2014, and the new relaxed standards include complicated rules about what percentage into limp mode they go at different intervals during different periods of time after those notoriously unreliable systems start to have errors. You can't do that without modern ECUs! I'm all for reducing the harm caused by running diesel engines in the most densely populated cities on the planet (DEF and similar systems are about particulate emissions, not carbon), but we're being naive if we pretend that extending these regulations to farm equipment isn't a huge factor in why that same equipment has gotten more expensive and less reliable over the past decade.
  • Jedd 6mo ago
    > US is because it's functionally illegal for it to exist. This feels like one of those 'burying the lede' situations. Can you explain what's functionally illegal (and I admit that I'm mildly curious about the distinction of functional illegality and non-functional illegality) about this existing? I'm as breathless as you are, after reading that second paragraph, but I nonetheless remain ignorant about the nuances of the legality of this situation.
    • infecto 6mo ago
      I don’t recall exactly wha the Trump admin has changed but I know there have been changes on emission requirements. The way I understood this is historically all equipment with diesel motors have had pretty strict requirements for emissions and an engine like this would simply not be possible. My take on this is you are throwing all the good things away about modern engines. You could easily make a right to repair tractor with low tech but still enjoy modern improvements.
• jonahs197 6mo ago
  Butlerian Jihad now.
• darepublic 6mo ago
  this is a great move. Hoping the best for this company
• Humphrey 6mo ago
  Ah, this is the tractor that Jermey Clarkson needs!
  • Ylpertnodi 6mo ago
    Love it, when typos work.
• cft 6mo ago
  I wonder if one can start a company selling repairable cars, for example, be it electric or gasoline.
• inatreecrown2 6mo ago
  They should really choose better words for the headline. There is no such thing as a "No-Tech Tractor".
• amelius 6mo ago
  That's how you deal with vendor lock in. These farmers have more balls than most Apple users.
  • Toutouxc 6mo ago
    Huh? Aren't the tractors using a loophole to avoid emissions regulations? You can do a lot of things if you don't care about the spirit of the law and your negative externalities.
    • jimnotgym 6mo ago
      Which loophole? Using a remanufacture engine?
      • Toutouxc 6mo ago
        Yes, they're engines that you wouldn't be allowed to build and put in a new tractor. Like, the signals seem pretty clear to me. The spirit of the regulations is that these shouldn't be produced and put into operation anymore. The company is doing it anyway.
        • erikerikson 6mo ago
          You're right about the emissions dimension and that there are good reasons for reducing pollution, even if the company isn't putting new engines into use but only elongating the operation of existing ones. On the other hand the right to repair and dependability angle is real. There are problems that need to be solved and they need to be actually solved. If they aren't a bunch of us start to starve and get angry. It doesn't go well.
• DesiLurker 6mo ago
  We need a 'Framework (as in laptop maker) for physical devices'. Basically most of this physical tech can be relatively easily recreated with current tech and 3D printing. In fact probably better done with electric motors and batteries. There is definitly a moat there to be disrupted.
  • bluescrn 6mo ago
    We need EVs with standardised modular battery packs, designed to be replced/upgraded without replacing the entire car. But instead, we're getting EVs that are built more like smartphones.
• grugdev42 6mo ago
  Good, I wish them every success. I hope this sets the trend for cars too. I would happily buy a new car with a 2000s Japanese engine and no tech.
• kennykartman 6mo ago
  Nice. This is the kind of technology we need when we'll have to fight back against AI overlords.
• fergie 6mo ago
  I want a half-price no-tech electric car.
  • tiborsaas 6mo ago
    You can buy a used car and get it converted to electric.
    • mulmen 6mo ago
      Not for half price.
• evan220 6mo ago
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• api 6mo ago
  I’ve always thought if we met super advanced aliens they would be… no more advanced than needed. In each domain they would use only the most complex thing needed to accomplish a task and no more. 100 years ago I might cook in a cast iron pan and use a slide rule to compute. Now I cook in a cast iron pan and use a 5nm scale multi core CPU to compute. In 100 years I might cook in a cast iron pan and use a topological quantum computer to compute. In my home in a spinning city at a Lunar LaGrange point. We are in the try everything with everything phase of early technological development.
  • mwcampbell 6mo ago
    IMO the word "compute" is too generic here. To me, the most valuable thing that personal computers have brought us so far is the ability to communicate smoothly across (dis)abilities through digital text. Think of a blind student writing an assignment that can be read by a sighted teacher, or a sighted student and a blind teacher, with no transcriber mediating between them, and a blind writer being able to know what they're actually writing and correct it (as opposed to, say, using a typewriter blind). We should be able to do that, with a variety of assistive technologies for different disabilities, with far less computing power than we're using now. Edit to add: And indeed we did, decades ago, including in battery-powered devices. But now we're convinced that our "one device" needs to be able to do everything, thus it needs to have as much computing power as modewrn technology allows. Edit 2 to add: I think it's important to be specific about what the computing is for. If you just need to solve a small number of equations, then yes, you can do that with a slide rule. But in the written communication case above, the computing is only useful when done with at least the speed of an early microcomputer and paired with digital storage and/or networking and a variety of I/O devices. Still, we don't strictly need our modern supercomputers for that use case, except that it's now considered weird and limiting to use anything less. Also, I bring up the written communication use case because there is a rising backlash against allowing personal computers at all in certain contexts, such as education, because of AI-based cheating. I don't want disabled people like me to lose what we've gained from personal computing in the specific use case I described above. Maybe the solution is to normalize using less than a maximally powerful, Internet-connected personal computer in such contexts.
  • 6mo ago
• alexpotato 6mo ago
  Two things: 1. LOVE this idea as I've always been a big fan of "right to repair" and even at work, FinTech SRE/DevOps, I say things like "we want this to be like a 1975 Ford: you open the hood, look inside, understand it and it's easy to fix. We don't want a 2026 Ferrari." 2. The Econ major/MBA in me wonders how long you can sell cheaper tractors that last forever. I say this b/c it's like trying to sell 100 year lightbulbs: markets are not infinite so if you have everyone buy them in years 1-10, what do you sell after that? The general idea is that you charge MORE for these things since a. "easy to repair" is now an added feature, b. people will buy less of your thing so you need to make more money upfront. Granted, there is probably some sweet spot and/or "even selling 1,000 == a couple million and that's enough for anyone" but I still like to debate the points
  • ToucanLoucan 6mo ago
    You probably can’t sell tractors forever but that’s short-sighted: you can sell parts and service that’s reasonably priced. People don’t just refuse to buy OEM parts on principle, they do it because the prices are often outrageous and/or the procedure to do so sucks and/or is arbitrarily restrictive like needing dealer licenses or what have you. And just because a tractor is low tech and designed to run forever doesn’t mean it won’t still need parts and service. Time comes for us all and that includes your wheel bearings, bushings and seals.
  • Havoc 6mo ago
    On the econ Point I think you’d still have someone come in and undercut it. If you can steal a big share of a 10 year market then it could make sense for a lean startup as a once off sprint even if you know after that it’s dead. The bulb stuff was a cartel not normal functional markets.
  • swed420 6mo ago
    Point #2 ought to be good reason for us to move past our archaic consumption-based economies into something where less consumption isn't considered a "problem."
    • thewebguyd 6mo ago
• ChrisMarshallNY 6mo ago
  I think it may have been here, where there was a story about a Toyota factory that only makes one car: a barebones, white SUV. It’s brought by all the NPOs in the world. It’s simple, rugged, easy to repair, and cheap. You see them, all the time, on TV.
  • mulmen 6mo ago
    You’re probably thinking of the 70 Series Land Cruiser which has been in continuous production since 1984. Toyota does modernize the vehicle from time to time. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Land_Cruiser_(J70) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toyota_Land_Cruiser_(J70)
• Havoc 6mo ago
  Similar opportunities exist in fridge and TV space
• pngwen 6mo ago
  Wouldn’t a “no-tech tractor “ be a mule? They are selling tractors based on internal combustion technology.
  • gibspaulding 6mo ago
    Mules are hybrids of donkey and horse. This was an important technological advancement some 3000 years ago, providing benefits of both breeds in one animal. The donkey and horse themselves of course are products of one of the most important technologies in human history - domestication!
• SpaceFarmer 6mo ago
  I wish someone would do this for the pickup truck market. Lol, like make a truck for people that actually want to use it just for hauling things. Kind of like trucks used to be in the 1960's and 1970's. Not the modern ones that are more like a luxury SUV that happens to have a tiny truck bed in the back.
  • yalogin 6mo ago
    Isn’t slate a similar concept for trucks?
• seanc 6mo ago
  Folks focus on the impact simplicity has on the customer, but it's also worth noting the impact it has on the manufacturer. With a simple product they get a simple business. - Simple warranty support - No deep bench of customer support staff - No complex financing - Straightforward sales process Heck, even the website is bare bones.
• hmhrex 6mo ago
  I helped build the e-commerce site for Tilmor[0] when they were starting up. They build easily repairable mechanical farming equipment for small to medium sized farms with an emphasis on organic farming. It's a really interesting niche that I think will continue to grow. I'm 6 years out from working for them and still think of their products fondly. [0] https://www.tilmor.com/en-us/ https://www.tilmor.com/en-us/
  • null_deref 6mo ago
    I never knew organic farming equipment differs from non organic farming, Fascinating.
• manesioz 6mo ago
  I love this so much. We need this for personal automobiles.
• rkozik1989 6mo ago
  For those of us not totally enveloped in the tech bubble I don't think this will be terribly shocking. In general, there's a sizeable and growing number of people who want products with less tech, not more. They're tired of everything being a subscription, overtly planned obsolescence, and inshitification in general.
• bikamonki 6mo ago
  I am looking for a no-tech web browser...
• thomasfl 6mo ago
  This is the same reason why I switched from riding a car to riding bicycles. Easy to get parts. Easily repairable. No electronics.
• District5524 6mo ago
  I don't understand how different this startup is from established, non-John Deere segments, like MTZ? Definitely low tech and around the same price as the startup: https://www.mtzequipment.com/products/tractors https://www.mtzequipment.com/products/tractors
• larrytheworm 6mo ago
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• dreamcompiler 6mo ago
  Another nice feature of these old diesel engines: They're not vulnerable to EMP. So after a nuclear holocaust they'll still run. Assuming you're still alive and can deal with fallout of course. And assuming you can find fuel. Which won't be a problem because these engines will run on the rancid oil in the vat behind what used to be the local McDonalds.
• num42 6mo ago
  After reading the title, it reminded me of a high-tech bolt. I thought people were making even bolts more complicated, gradually finding ways to monetize them by integrating ads or unnecessary technology. Even bolts are becoming harder to use. It’s surprising to see that tractors are becoming less tech heavy now, as people prefer more usable and easy-to-repair technology again. MAKE ANALOG GREAT AGAIN(MAGA)! SMART BOLT TECHNOLOGY: https://smartbolts.com/ https://smartbolts.com/ https://imbu.nl/projects/smartbolt/ https://imbu.nl/projects/smartbolt/
• casey2 6mo ago
  Praying for 100% tariffs on these frankly evil Canadians, importing Chinese state subsidized tractors, trying to destroy our tech sector. I bet they don't even come up to code.
• stormed 6mo ago
  It's ironic we're at a point where having repairability & no tech innovation is seen as appealing for a modern piece of equipment. That John Deere lawsuit is perfect marketing as to why you don't need modern utility equipment that you cannot service yourself. All the quality of life features and technologies seen in modern farming equipment is only going to get you so far until something breaks & you're having a certified John Deere technician driving 6 hours to your farm. While not the same, I also feel similarly with a lot of IoT "smart" devices too, if my 1995 washing machine breaks beyond the point of repair, you bet I'm going to be trying to find another old reliable washer to replace it with. Plenty of things are just simply not built to last and IoT is more of just a trojan horse for implementing planned obsolescence for more household items.
• breezywheezy 6mo ago
  Wait until Deere collabs with Monsanto: you are not allowed to use unapproved equipment with our seed.
• ChuckMcM 6mo ago
  So glad to see someone doing this. I like to believe that the Ukrainians will also be able to export their "dumb" tractors once the war is resolved. I had lunch with a friend of mine who retired from the VC business and he asked me what kind of company I would start if I could start one right now. I told him probably a "dumb printer" / "dumb TV" company with a fully open designs. If the rejection of the "trade your privacy for cheap products" push back is actually widespread (instead of anecdotal) then such a company would do well I believe.
• khelavastr 6mo ago
  Why does nobody advocate for repairable Jinmas..?
• tayloremilija9 6mo ago
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