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SQUARING OFF ON RIGHT 2 REPAIR. Farm Equipment Executive Editor Kim Schmidt (representing the farm equipment dealer and manufacturing perspective) “steals the wrench” from Lessiter Media Founder and Grower Division Editorial Director (representing the company’s grower audiences). Lessiter Media is the only ag trade publisher in North America with distinct content properties for dealers/manufacturers (Farm Equipment, Ag Equipment Intelligence, Precision Farming Dealer and Rural Lifestyle Dealer) AND growers (No-Till Farmer, Strip-Till Farmer, Cover Crop Strategies and Farm Innovations).

Photo: Jeff Lazewski

No-Till Farmer's Editors Debate Right to Repair

By Mike Lessiter, Frank Lessiter, and Kim Schmidt posted on April 21, 2023 | Posted in Equipment

Editor’s Note: Lessiter Media Inc., now in its 42nd year of independent and family ownership, is uniquely positioned in the Right to Repair (R2R) debate. Company Founder and Editorial Chairman Frank Lessiter has a 62-year career as an ag journalist. 

The company’s farmer-facing properties include the flagship No-Till Farmer (Lessiter has served as editor in chief on each monthly edition in the title’s 51-year history), Strip-Till Farmer, Cover Crop Strategies and Farm Innovations for Today’s Top Farm Operator (a pictorial guide to the newest independent, or shortline, product innovations each year).

Also, since 2004, Lessiter Media has owned and operated a separate business-to-business Farm Equipment Division, consisting today of Farm Equipment, Rural Lifestyle Dealer, Precision Farming Dealer and Ag Equipment Intelligence.

The content that follows presents a unique vantage point in all of agricultural media. Here, the content leaders of the two divisions – and on each side of the chasm – express their respective audience’s arguments on this R2R debate. 

NOTE: The argument was civil. No punches thrown. And the H.R. director only called into the room 3 times.

 – Mike Lessiter, President, Lessiter Media Inc., May 2023

Read the Farmer Viewpoint

Read the Industry Viewpoint

Related Content:

  • Right-to-Repair Battle Heating Up: R2R is a controversial topic we felt needed extensive coverage and a subject that the general ag media doesn’t appear to have the courage to report on due to worries about picking sides with the big equipment makers and their advertising budgets. Frank Lessiter breaks down…
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KEYWORDS farm equipment dealer right to repair Frank Lessiter Kim Schmidt no-till opinion right to repair Right to repair tools to repair own farm equipment
Mike lessiter 0723

Mike Lessiter

Mike Lessiter, a second-generation ag journalist, has been Editor/Publisher of Farm Equipment since 2004. He has covered business-to-business operations, manufacturing, and marketing topics since 1992 and has held various roles with the Farm Equipment Manufacturers Assn. and the Assn. of Equipment Manufacturers. Mike is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and was named president of Lessiter Media in 2007.

Contact: mlessiter@lessitermedia.com
Lessiter frank

Frank Lessiter

Frank Lessiter founded Lessiter Media in 1981 and has spent more than 50 years in the agricultural and equine publishing business. He still oversees all of the company's publications as Chairman and Editorial Director, with an Emphasis on American Farriers Journal and No-Till Farmer magazines.

Contact: lessitef@lesspub.com

Kim Schmidt

Kim Schmidt is the Executive Editor of Farm Equipment and the host of Ag Equipment Intelligence’s On The Record. An award-winning writer, she worked 7 years in business-to-business trade media before joining Lessiter Media in 2012. She is a journalism graduate of Marquette University.

Contact: kschmidt@lessitermedia.com

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