Almost no one reads tech contracts (privacy policies, EULAs, terms of service, etc.) This fact has led tech providers to go overboard, creating long and complex agreements.

Repairability is certainly an issue for some farmers, but it is not the whole story. Greg Peterson (a/k/a Machinery Pete) pointed out in the Star-Tribune that 1970’s and 1980’s tractors were built to last for decades, with proper maintenance and upkeep.

As 2019 draws to a close, I enjoy looking back at the ag tech stories from the past year. Here are the highlights from the Janzen Ag Law Blog in 2019.

The Trump administration recently announced that the US intended to withdraw from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

In 1919, a young Lieutenant Colonel named Dwight D. Eisenhower led a military convoy across the United States, from Washington D.C. to San Francisco. The excursion took 62 days and left a lasting impression on Eisenhower.

It has become common for tech conferences to have Shark-Tank style competitions among new startups. The winner is awarded an investment from the conference host or supporting venture capital firm. In the case of the Forbes AgTech Summit, SVG Ventures selected two swine-focused agtech startups, BinSentry and SwineTech. Each will receive a $100,000 investment.

Tesla recently announced that the Model 3 would now be available as a “100% leather-free” model, meaning that no leather was used in the interior. When hearing this, at first I thought, “Well that’s interesting.”

I logged onto my accounting software this morning and, instead of doing the task I wanted to do, I was immediately confronted with a pop-up window that informed me the terms of service and pricing scheme were changing.