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Tranel: Extend emissions changes to ag equipment

The Trump administration has proposed easing automobile gas mileage and emissions regulations, and a Wisconsin legislator is asking USDA to also include agricultural equipment in the reforms. Farmer and State Representative Travis Tranel says, “If they can apply that principle to vehicles, I don’t know why they couldn’t extend that same courtesy to agriculture.”

Tranel tells Brownfield the current requirements have increased machinery costs and decreased reliability. “The E4 emissions, the DEF, all of that stuff adds to the electronics of the machine and just makes it more complicated, and in my opinion more unreliable, and then if you believe the manufacturers, more expensive.”

Tranel says it’s hard for farmers to buy equipment when margins are slim, and that’s also impacting the manufacturers’ earnings.  He says farmers are also paying more than double the original cost for some simpler and reliable 25-year-old equipment. “The last decade or maybe even two, it doesn’t really matter what the brand is, they all just seem to be less reliable, more expensive, and harder to maintain than what they need to be.”

Tranel says he’s talked with some Wisconsin U.S. House and Senate members, who say they are considering expanding the regulation changes to include agricultural equipment.  He encourages farmers to reach out to their federal elected officials and ask them to support lower machinery emissions standards.

AUDIO: Farmer and State Representative Travis Tranel from Wisconsin discusses why the Trump Administration should extend lower emissions standards beyond vehicles to include agricultural equipment with Brownfield’s Larry Lee.