GrainGrowers Australia is encouraging growers to share their experiences about purchasing new agricultural machinery and equipment by completing an Australian Competition and Consumer Commission survey.
The ACCC released a discussion paper Agriculture Machinery: After-sales markets, that identified a number of concerns and is seeking further input from growers through the survey process.
Agricultural machines are frequently not covered by the Australian Consumer Law guarantees because it goes over the $40,000 threshold for consumer goods. Some warranty terms can also be problematic due to usage patterns of this type of equipment.
"I am asking all growers to take ten minutes to complete this really important survey" said GrainGrowers chairman Brett Hosking.
"One of the problems that has been flagged with me is that warranties and back up services don't always reflect the investments made.
"For example, if you purchase a piece of machinery that doesn't get used in the following twelve months because of seasonal conditions, you might then have warranty complications when the equipment does get used.
"As farmers, we can spend a lot of money on machinery and have less warranty and consumer protections than we have for cheaper tools in our sheds. Your feedback will help ensure any design of government policy going forward takes into account the inequity currently faced by farm businesses.
"It's an important opportunity for growers to provide feedback on their investments in new machinery."
The survey can be completed online via the ACCC website and closes on April 22, 2020.
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