WENATCHEE — For local growers, repairing a piece of farming equipment can cost not only money but time. Grower Blaine Smith of Bountiful Farms in Monitor said a tractor repair last year cost $10,000.

According to state Rep. Tom Dent, many farmers and community members would prefer to make repairs on their devices and equipment themselves, but manufacturers keep certain parts, as well as the information and tools to fix them, from being available on the open market.

“There’s a lot of electronics in there that you have to understand,” Dent said. “In order to understand, you need information from the manufacturer, and they’re not willing to sometimes let that go.”

Right to Repair, or HB 1483, passed nearly unanimously in the state Legislature earlier this year, but it focused on electronic

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