this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2026
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I think it would. I would love to have a coop tool library / repair shop / design shop. Something I want to get into is open-source ag hardware, and a co-op shop would be a good place to pilot designs without one individual having to sink hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars into making a piece of equipment that may or may not work. Even without designing new stuff though, a shared equipment library would be nice.
The downside is that sometimes, people borrow equipment without knowing how to use it, and if you use farming equipment without knowing how to use it, you can destroy thousands of dollars worth of gear and/or get people killed. This happens occasionally even with informal loans among acquaintences, I've had my own close shaves. Almost literally, I've had equipment break and send pieces of metal flying right next to my head. I don't know how I would go about sending out that kind of equipment confident that the users were equipped to use it safely.
As you wouldn't want equipment damaged you could have a training/certification scheme. Realistically a deposit too.
That's kind of what I'm thinking. As for deposits, I think there would need to be an agreement that part of membership dues goes toward maintenance and schedulable repairs like replacing wear parts, as well as a pool for mitigating catastrophic damage to equipment. I'm not sure how I would determine "fault" for a piece that broke in someone's field, that seems like getting into insurance territory and I really don't want to model a coop off an insurance company. But I'm stumped as to what the alternative is.
The thing about dangerous equipment certification is, and this is something I grit my teeth at, that it really does need to have some kind of large institutional if not government oversight. I take safety... pretty seriously, and I don't trust me to make the call on whether or not someone can safely operate a machine. That's why I don't let other people operate my tractor. I don't really know how that works in larger ag communities, but in my experience it's just farmers letting farmers borrow tools off the books, and any damages are handled case-by-case. I know deaths and injuries happen because of this but I've never dealt with them firsthand, thankfully. I would love to have the means of producing accurate, helpful safety training material. Based on the farmers I've met, we could use it, though I don't know if most of us would. A lot of farmers take pride in their risk-taking, which I do sympathize with, though I think most farmers are pretty bad at some kinds of risk assessment and a lot of the living ones are coasting on luck.