Just stumbled on this on arf.com of all places. https://www.bbc.com/news/business-64206913
I guess this is a step in the right direction. Ag first, maybe yellow iron next? Maybe.
If that's Deere's opinion on their equipment, that's enough reason for me to never purchase another one. I still have a couple of their Powertech engines in other makes but I did not realize that they had this "intellectual property" type of situation going on. That's a really good way to turn off a customer base for people like me who refuse to take anything to a dealer. Kind of reminds me of the Woke = Broke saying.
And then no matter what the machine is, they are loaded with the secret black boxes AKA ECU's and Controller modules and what ever else there is, that demand the big bucks at the parts counters. There are some folks with the electronic back ground that could replace the small $3.00 component that is shutting the machine down if they only had the correct schematics etc. but no that will never be released. All they have to do is say it is not user serviceable. Yes having the proper software and devices to look for certain problems is nice. But knowing what makes those black boxes tick is way more important and opens up competitive rebuilding of such items.
Yanmar appears to be the same
Cat already has that setup. Bad Bob
This topic is a BS grinder. All the diagnostic software should be in the machine and accessible by all. Lock out the power settings, safety stuff and emissions and then there are no issues. Been that way on Komatsu and Caterpillar construction stuff for a long time. There is probably some way to do it on Deere ag stuff to. Funny the story has to come from a British News Service.
There are farmers that don't care, they stop at routine maintaince. Something dies in the field it gets fixed with a phone call. Not saying I agree with what Deere has been doing, it isn't right. Ed
It is really bad for us indies way back in the hills. Something Deere, Cummins, Isuzu starts acting up and we have to pull all kinds of strings to figure out what is wrong with it. With propane or natural gas fueled equipment, it is much different. Software is easily available and easy to use and understand. The interface does not cost very much.
The JD issue was especially concerning to farmers and think that's where the right to repair started. JD are the biggest AG suppliers in the US and were trying to get a monopoly on repairs. They were basically saying farmers were leasing the software and that's why it had to be serviced by a dealer tech. Farmers started fighting back and it's great they succeeded. If you need to get a crop in and your $500K combine dies, you can't wait until the JD tech can get there in 3 or 4 days because there are 4 or 5 customers ahead of you. If JD would have prevailed would have opened the door for even more restrictions on what customers could repair on their equipment.
Here is the agreement. https://www.fb.org/files/AFBF_John_Deere_MOU.pdf
For Deere, it is an attempt to stop state and federal legislation that will force their hand. This move takes the Farm Bureau Federation off the opponent list.
It’s summed up in section II, A, 5. Deere wants to prevent liability if someone wants to override safety features, delete emission controls or raise the horsepower of a machine. How many folks have done something as simple as bypass the seat switch on their lawnmower? Features like this are put there to limit the chances the operator or others can be hurt or killed. Think what a machine such as a combine or a forage harvester could do. All manufacturers are required to design engines to limit harmful emissions, and the laws can make them financially liable even after the machine is sold and out of their hands. Admittedly, all of the manufacturers have made and sold engines that have failed to perform as they accumulate use, and not all have effectively dealt with these problems, but they have to make every effort to keep their products in compliance. A “simple” thing like an EGR delete and the ability to insert a chip or a programming change to emulate a properly functioning emissions system exposes the owner, the technician, and the manufacturer to liability for pollution. Manufacturers also design their machines to work at a certain power level for a reasonable amount of time. Just because several models of a tractor appear to be identical except for horsepower isn’t always true, and there maybe some power train components that are upgraded for higher power levels. It has been said that some manufacturers “sell horsepower”, and that may have been true in some cases, but in reality, that tractor has been designed as a system. The engine, transmission components,and the stuff that puts power to the ground, as well as the emission system are all designed to deliver optimum life, fuel economy, and reasonable cost of operation. And yes, the manufacturer wants to limit as much as possible any warranty claims. Owners deserve to have the “Right to Repair”. Uptime is critical in any business; perhaps none more so than agriculture, where the window to put a crop in the ground or to harvest it may be painfully short, and a critical machine that is broke down can result in large financial loss. The ability to diagnose, and to have repair information readily at hand, is critical. OK, I’m gonna put my flame suit on now. Odie
Deere went way beyond doing this for safety. I think it is disingenuous to even suggest this has anything meaningful to do with safety. The repair shops are the source of large sources of income for both the dealer and the OEM. This is all about extending the income stream for the dealer and the OEM throughout the life of the equipment. ECMs can be locked down to prevent power changes and document the activity if someone was able to override it. This capability has been around for a long time. You can paint it however it is convenient to justify the action, but at the end of the day, Deere pushed this to make more money on each green tractor sold. I get the idea as an OEM, but Deere stepped in it big time over this. The green tractor guys are incredibly loyal, but this shitstorm has created a rift that will be felt for a long time.
The agreement is only a statement and is not legally binding on anyone. Second part is that Deere says they will sell the equipment needed to diagnose. It is like the lady on the street, she finds out what you want and then will sell it to you.
I see the automotive guys have already started repairing ecm's on the component level. There are some guys even teaching how to do it. Looks like a good idea as some of the cars have ecms that are on back order and dealer has no idea when they will come in.
It's not just JD, Case New Holland has been doing the same thing since computerized tractors became a thing. A friend of mine bought a brand new New Holland mid-size tractor. About 20 minutes after the warranty expired, it just stopped moving, transmission went into neutral while it was working. I went up there, I have the NH diagnostic tool which you can get, but the dealer doesn't like it. I determined the TCM had failed. This module is about the size of a pack of cigarettes, easily accessible, and held on by 2 Philips screws and a Deutsch plug. 20 minute repair? nope, the module is shipped blank, and must be flashed. The dealer isn't even allowed to own the necessary software, so they can't send out a tech with a laptop. The tractor must be hauled 75 miles to the dealership, where it is plugged into a hardline connection to NH. Supposedly, only one tech at the shop can do this, so the tractor sits, because this dealer is terrible to customers who only own one new tractor, and 8 old ones. 5 MONTHS (entire hay season gone) later the bill is $350 to diagnose what I diagnosed and double checked in an hour, $1100 for the module, and $1200 to install and flash it. Tell me it ain't about making money. The tractor went straight from the dealer to the auction, he took the money and bought 2 well restored '90s models.
There are all kinds of ways that equipment manufacturer's try to make it difficult for the average person to work on their equipment. Years ago I was working on a D4B Cat and trying to diagnose a problem which was avoiding me, I had purchased the repair manual from Cat for somewhere's north of $500.00 but couldn't figure it out. I finally called Cat and had one of their techs stop by. He checked things out and told me what needed to be done. While watching him I asked how he knew what to look for and where he got his information. I said that I didn't see that in the procedure listed in the manual. He just smiled and said, "They don't put that part in the manual so that you can't figure it out. It's only available to the dealer techs."
Yellow iron is definitely next. Deere runs AG/CE as basically the same unit, so this will apply to CE.
I took a short business class at a community College years ago and one of the business examples was a farm equipment dealer. They spent oodles of money building a super modern shop equipped to handle multiple large machines at the same time. Big mistake. Tractors, combines and other big machines break down in the field and could be 2 hours or more away from the dealer and require special trailers and permits to move them. Most farmers obviously don't have the specialized equipment to haul their machines to and from the dealer so repairs are made at the farm. The dealer went under in less than 2 years. I agree the safety portion in this agreement is a bunch of fluff. JD wanted a monopoly on the diagnostics so they could get $500 everytime they had to go out and hook up a lap top. It was a way to increase revenues for dealers service dept's. It was all about money but made to look like it wasn't. JD might have realized they could lose customers or face lawsuits because their equipment was down and crops were lost because dealers couldn't get to the machines fast enough. I don't know if it's still a law but in Saskatchewan AG dealers have to have parts for newer equipment with 48 hours because there can be a very small window farmers need to plant or harvest. Pulling codes so equipment can be repaired could be under the same rules.
Dealers that go broke happen because of the people they hired to run the company, not because of the shops that they work out of. The policies being advanced by the manufacturers are not necessarily the policies of the dealer networks. Dealers are held to franchise contracts the determine how many things are handled. One should make the distinction of directing blame where it belongs which in this case is John Deere and other manufacturers. One point I've seen time and again over my career is that the manufacturers don't care at all if a dealership goes broke. There will be another fish come along shortly to take up where the last one ended.
That is a huge problem with many OEM shop manuals, always missing many critical details. I have had some problems in the past and have walked into the shop manager and had him point out the right person to talk to, at Cat and other makes as well, also if I didn't have the manual they let me look at theirs. I had a car dealer one time that was a bit upset about letting me see the manuals, but they gave in.
Sorry but the dealer they talked about at the course I took spent over 1 mil on the shop and couldn't afford the payments. There were likely other problems too. I think manufactures like JD try to help their dealers to be more profitable. Customers lose confidence if the dealer for specific equipment keeps changing. It's usually better to deal with a long term dealer.
What I learned and despised of the Freightliner Daimler trucks as to this is if a component on the Mother board fails, all you can do is exchange the Module, the guts are sealed in a form of epoxy, produces inability to access the parts unless Manufacturer rebuilds and reseals that module. Was shown the internals with a tamper proof cover removed, at Truck Centers here in MO. That so to detract from getting inside and changing parameters or functions or even repairs.
Every single manufacturer has been pulling this stunt on owners of their equipment, for 30 years or more - but it's got so much worse in the last 8-10 years, as electronics on machinery and automotive multiplied like flies around a cow pat. The auto manufacturers were the first to go down kicking and squealing, they got dragged through the courts to make them release technical repair info. This started when auto owners had a fender-bender, and the body shop needed to access the electronics in the vehicle to be able to repair it. The auto manufacturers were insisting that the electronics could only be serviced in the dealership - citing the big bogeyman - "safety problems", if "unauthorised" people were allowed to access the vehicles electronics. It meant the insurance companies were having to pay to haul the vehicle back and forth between the body shop and the dealer. It was a BS setup, and everyone knew it. I think the insurance companies initiated the lawsuit, and they won comprehensively. JD just saw the writing on the wall for them, because the rumblings were getting louder every day. There was talk of class actions. You have no idea how angry so many Australian farmers were, over JD's insistence on keeping a stranglehold on their technical repair information, and demanding that JD technicians be used exclusively. As one Australian farmer said, "I bought the tractor, I own it. I should be able to repair it myself, modify if I need to, or get other, closer and more readily available repairers, to fix it." Here in Australia, you can be a couple of hundred, to a thousand kilometres from a JD dealer. You generally find there's a wait to get a technician on site, because they're the people most under the pump. I tried to find a local auto electronics technician to diagnose and repair a 2010 Ford Ranger with (diesel) engine problems for me recently - and all the ones I called, had a 3 to 4 week backlog of work. Even the local Ford dealer couldn't look at the Ranger for a week, and they were the ones who finally worked on it. They still struggled to repair it satisfactorily, and gave it back to me, with it still not starting properly. I had to finish diagnosing and repairing it myself. When you have major income relying on this high-technology equipment to function properly and be repairable in quick-smart time, you aren't going to buy it again when it causes you losses. I find that many heavy truck owners are now looking for older trucks to recondition to as-new, as they regard them as more reliable, and less trouble to fix. March 2018 news item - https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2018-03-11/farmers-spearhead-right-to-repair-fight/9535730 April 2019 news item - https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-19/right-to-repair-tractors-taken-up-by-the-accc/12156196
At least with the Cat in my 05 I can code up a Check Engine lamp off the processor, can access codes t find out what circuit at fault but then finding diagrams or wiring numbers becomes the game, I have no true access to SIS, do not have a Fleet so Cat said NO to giving me access. Service manuals leave much out as noted or to be desired.
A year ago I was helping my BIL with the harvest and was staggered at the number of older model tractor and headers in the area of all breeds. I commented about it and his reply was until manufacturers get their **** together over the reliability issues and right to repair those older tractors won't be traded. So in many respects manufacturers have shoot themselves in the foot.
You have never worked in or had anything to do with an equipment dealer shop and all you are spouting is hearsay. The first palace I worked in was ten million in 1980. The GP on that service department was a half million a month back then. The last franchised dealer shop I worked in was half or less of that first one and it was doing a million a month in 1994. Basically, an equipment dealer going broke is being run by idiots.
So what exactly will JD do to you if you repair or modify your own machine?
Another aspect of this that I haven't heard talked about much is Mother Deere's access to real-time harvest data. They have full access to all the GPS guidance and yield motoring software in these new combines. They know what field you're working in and what the bushels per acre are before it even hits the truck. Sounds like an easy way to do some insider trading on the Commodities Futures markets...
Exactly, that is a well known feature to those that know about it.
First of all you have no idea of my experience with dealerships. My dad was given a dealership for commercial turf equipment but needed a partner to help raise the money required. It was very successful and he had about a 75% market share. After about 10 years he had a heart attack and sold his share to his business partner but stayed on as a straight commission salesman. He didn't get paid unless he sold something but his vehicle was basically leased to the company. About 5 years later his partner decided he was going in a different direction and no longer required my dad. My dad let all of his customers/friends he'd known for years know he was let go. Several of them told his former partner not to even bother sending any sales people to see them. His partner sold the business about 8 years later and a couple years later the business folded. The Bobcat dealer got the dealership but they only lasted about a year. What was the market leading equipment by a big margin was completely wiped out if the province within 12 or 13 years. My dad was offered a job to go back to selling his main competition. He started his career with them but left because he couldn't stand one of the big shots. Anyway he accepted the job and increased sales 110% his 1st year back. He was still working mostly for something to do and visit his friends when he suddenly passed away. The manager where he worked said he had closer to a 90% market share when he passed away. Don't tell me I know nothing about dealerships or the importance of sales people and customer service. My dad outsold all of his competition combined in his 40+ year career in turf equipment. He set some world wide sales records too. The owners of the shop in question may have been idiots but putting so much money into a service shop that wasn't being utilized certainly contributed to their failing. They thought they would have a monopoly on service work because of their state of the art facilty. Then there's all the overhead for this big shop. The shop was in a smaller rural area not a big city like a heavy equipment dealer would be. Unlike companies like Cat who have exclusive dealership territories AG suppliers can have multiple dealers of the same brands within relatively close proximity. Driving an hour away and getting a better deal isn't uncommon. One of the worst failures was the dealer I purchased my skid steer from. I liked my salesman and he gave good service. A few years later when they were quite established all of a sudden I had to deal with a different salesman because I was in his territory. It can be very beneficial to have a good relationship with your sales person. I took my machine in for some minor warranty work and they washed it off on a couple occasions and said it was just an extra service they provide to their customers. It was never full of mud or really that dirty. Fast forward a couple years and I had something done and when I got the bill there was a charge of $125 for washing it. When I questioned the service manager his story changed to it's not something we always charge so you might get charged every 2nd or 3rd wash. Well then tell your customers that, don't add 2 or 3 washes from the past and surprise your customers with something that used to be a value added service. I called the day before to rent a backhoe attachment and wanted the biggest bucket they had. I get there and this idiot shop helper made a big fuss about having to pull a bucket off the outside rack 50ft. away and change it. It was a skid steer backhoe and took less than 10 minutes to change the bucket which at 1st he claimed they didn't have a larger bucket. Their customer service dropped rapidly. Then they got the Kubota dealership for AG and industrial. A couple years later they went into receivership. Should have been a gold mine with Kubota. Know of another very successful AG dealer that was sold when the owner retired and the new owners decided to bring in more lines of equipment and ran the dealership into the ground in a few years. Some people just don't know what they're doing.
Electronic repair out fits have special chemicals to dissolve the "Conformal coatings" used on PCB's. That coating serves many functions, 1 to hide stuff, 2 to keep out things that can harm the circuits or short them, 3 vibration protection, 4 maybe even some ESD unless applied to the plug in terminals?
Deere's business plan looks out for Deere, customers and dealers have to look out for themselves. Like virtually all publicly owned companies, all that matters is the next quarter. Deere has told their dealerships they are either a buyer or a seller, mother deere doesn't care which. The dealerships have territories. Deere can't prevent a dealership from selling new equipment outside their territory, but they will withhold marketing allowances and other company compensation for that unit.
Our old dealer name here sold to a bigger dealer due to Deere demand as to maintaining a $1mil floorplan on machines. That after dealers had been developed in every county limiting sales volumes by any one dealer so the big dealer from N MO gets a deal on the smaller ones. That dealer has partnered with the SE MO dealer so the two now control green machine sales in 3/4 of the state and floor plan is not unmanageable.
Good for the farmers who took a stand and took this to court. It is anti-competitive and anti-customer. It would be one thing if the dealers had enough mechanics to where they could handle the service demand. But they don't, and by attempting to restrict customers access to tools and information, OEMs and dealers are saying that they don't care about their customers and uptime. They only care about having a monopoly on parts/service revenue.
It doesn't have to be the manufacturer, there are independent module repair shops, now.
I watched a you tube vid of one of the guys that is doing the ecm repairs. He had a heat gun set up to release what ever was sealing it. Interested to see how that business takes off. I hear that a lot of shops are already seeing ecms that are no longer available. Would suck to have a 20 year old truck that you have to junk because nothing wrong with it besides a mad modular. I guess there is a huge problem with ford focus tcm's that the dealer has no idea when they will have one.
Unavailable? How about an Allison 1000 TCM, or, better yet, a Duramax LLY FICM. Used are going for $3k UsD, as none new are available.
The basis is designed obsolescence, make it go away to drive the purchase of newer to new mechanisms. Fabick when took in ECM for review and eval as well updating the 6NZ parameters, noted these modules will be obsoleted in less than five years, next gen engine controls will be all that is available and nothing for repairs on old units, engines worthless without.
Convert to full mechanical
ECMs of all types could be easily made and sold by the aftermarket, but probably nobody wants to develop that idea for fear that a 3 letter agency will stomp all over them. But if we could get rid of that threat with confidence, a whole new world would open up.
This was brought up on national rural TV show (ABC Landline) and was never denied by Deere. But it's not just harvest, even sprayers can be monitored. Seems like they make a quiet buck on the side selling to 3rd parties. I've wondered if mother Cat have a similar thing going on under their maintenance monitoring system.
with all the interconnected electrically operated subsystems damned near to impossible physically and unworldly costly.
While I agree with the sentiment, please tell me how to do that with electronic unit injectors.
I think the answer is you buy 7140 Magnums or 4960 Deere's, and keep rebuilding them as needed. Yes you may have to go back to driving them yourselves like the olden days prior to autosteer.
Anything's possible with enough time and $$$$. That's the kicker.
There were 2 JD AG dealers that partnered here. JD skid steers can be purchased at AG dealers or industrial dealers but I don't think mini excavators because the AG dealer sells Yanmar mini ex's. I priced out some special grease JD had. It was $1.00 more at the industrial dealer. The AG and industrial dealers are literally about 7 minutes away from each other. Manufacturers can specify certain things their dealers have to do. It could be they have to buy so much inventory or the dealership has to have a certain look. Honda required a long time M/C dealer to have to completely change the outside look of the dealership to Honda's new look. It cost the dealership close to 1mil. to change to the new look. It was ugly compared to the original look. Honda also allowed another dealership to start up in basically the same territory of a long established dealer. It's good for customers but a slap in the face to a long term award winning dealer. The new dealer didn't have to put up nearly as fancy a facade either.
It would take an aftermarket ECM of some type, but it could be done. Not full mech though. But it is not that hard to make some sort of computer that reads engine speed and position and turns injectors off and on. The rest is profit for the manufacturer. It will be done at some point in the future, to get us out from the boot of big government/big mfr. How much pain is involved until society gets us to that point remains to be seen. The old system of, only approved parts from approved mfr worked OK so long as the approved parts were somewhat affordable, and were available. But to shut down hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of equipment over a few hundred dollars of silicon and some lines of code is not going to work for the long run.
Thats a fine idea till the transmission is laying from one end of the shop to the other and certain parts can't be had. Been there last year with a 4255
Really aftermarket ECMs for trucks and equipment isn't that far fetched of an idea. Look at the automotive world, we can put aftermarket EFI on most common older motors, use aftermarket ECMs to control OEM EFI systems, electronically controlled transmission, tons of possibilities. I just recently got back into playing with Ford EEC-IV on Fox body Mustangs and there is a ton of both tuning software to hack the OEM ECM as well as complete, new, aftermarket ECMs. Even more so for the GM LS stuff. There just has to be enough demand for the aftermarket to put the time and money in to make it happen.
I am thinking an electronics manufacturer could make a one size fits all ECM. Sell an adapter harness to connect to the OEM connector and then whatever connector they have chosen for their ECM for Cat, Deere, Cummins, whatever. Include the usual inputs and outputs on the base ECM and then sell an extra box as part of the adapter harness perhaps, to drive piezo injectors, unit injectors, whatever, if those require strange voltage or power requirements that you would not want to include in your base box. Then just install and upload the correct software to run the engine you have. Just work off the regular inputs and outputs, temp, position, oil pressure, CAN, and the like. I work with industrial controls right now that include all sorts of useless features we never use on the board because it is more efficient to produce just one product for all customers.
And is the main reason for everything going electronic, as well as more work for dealer shops. Any other reason is based on lies.
It won't be allowed, just like all the crack down on the tuner stuff. Read post above.
Analog control modules can likely be figured out and components on the boards replaced for repairs. Problem now is that ECMs are digitally operated which means that even if you figure out the failed components, the control programs are digital software and you still have to get the software from the manufacturer. As I said days ago when all this started, only the manufacturers of the engines can certify that any aftermarket component or software can be guaranteed to meet emissions regulations. Anyone can make a component to work. They just won't be able to get the manufacturer to take responsibility for it.
The only reason we can't do it now is because of threats from the government. This will not go on forever. People will get sick of it eventually.
Like a PLC. But, you forgot to mention the E.P.A.
People with cry and whine about it but are already convinced it is what will have to be done. Persons like us will just find a way to work with it or work around it. How are you handling the rain right now? People losing there properties or maybe some relatives are going to be looking for somewhere to place the blame. Right now the new media is harping climate change.
I've read California's central valley floods bad every 250 years or so. The last big flood was 1862. At least if it happens this year we will know what to blame. Those poor folks back in 1862 didn't have anything to blame. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Flood_of_1862
It has been heavy raining off and on for a week or two but this is actually quite normal. My great grandfather in the 1960s was on the water district board (very large district) and saw the need and helped get several substantial reservoirs built. Jackson Meadows and Rollins to name some. And of course there are Shasta and Oroville and Folsom etc. All the water is doing is filling the reservoirs, and if it bypasses these local reservoirs it also gets pumped south into San Luis and via canals to Southern Ca. All very normal and part of the plan. Some places like the Russian River along the coast, and the Cosumnes River south of Elk Grove have no flood management and houses very close to the river on flat land so they get flooded. These storms have a tendency to dump a whole lot of water in one spot over a couple days, always have. So you never know what river system is going to "get it."
I am not a fan of the MO river levee flood control program, built too close to channel, is only protection for a short time where low points or burrowing critters damage a section and it blows out or tops, gives relief for further downstream. MS river goes wild high the MO has no place to go ends up topping everywhere. Had it been built back half way across bottoms would be less but still a problematic concern. Narrows are a real problem child and the channeling of that snaking water will not accept being channelized forever, should just leave the rivers to their own and deal with bottoms being wet often. As proved in 1800s boats can be built shallow/wide to handle shallow water.
You can already buy diesel aftermarket ecu's although I'm not sure what type of engine they can be used on. I'm not of a breaking point I think something else will break first then the government might get a little more represented after that.
No bureaucrat that has had regulatory authority ever gives up that power. Expect regulations to get ever tighter, with ever greater penalties for end runs.
The issue with the rain is not whether it is normal or exceptional. It is the perception being promoted by the news media of it being the result of human caused climate change. What isn't being addressed is the increased population in the subject areas brought on by developers always looking for cheap land to build their ant hills on. The land was cheap for a reason. Now the predictable disaster is blamed on something else and new regulations are tacked onto anything and everything that has something to do with the atmosphere.
Actually, most of the areas that flood are old and kind of decrepit. They always flood. And there is hardly any new houses at least where I live, you aren't allowed to build anything. They really won't let you build where flooding will be a problem. Sometimes to the point of being ridiculous. Flat areas next to a short creek that have never flooded but some map says it could.
The media is publishing photos and video of flooded streets, deep sink holes, raging rivers and talking about 17 people dead. I don't doubt what you are saying at all. The issue is the perception of people in power who don't live there.
I know this is flirting with politics, but Birken is somebody who's opinion I respect, so I would like to know what he and the rest of you HEFiers with experience in the area think of this. (16) Why California Chooses Aggressive Conservation Over More Water Supply | Brett Barbre - YouTube
I looked into the source of the video and found it to be owned and produced by the Epoch Times organization which is part of the Fulong Gong organization that was thrown out of China. This Epoch Times organization has been branded a far right organization whose aim is steering up trouble within this country and others through out the world. I don't see how you can get any more political than that. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Epoch_Times
Well, the guy they are interviewing is the immediate past chairman of one of California's regional water districts. I was actually interested in what he was saying about California's reservoir system, not the politics of the issue, since Ca state politics doesn't interest me much.
I looked into the speaker as well. https://myemail.constantcontact.com...art-6.html?soid=1112323515017&aid=syTYgM8wLHk
Brother worked SDPWD as System Engineer until 2015 and retired, he said was one of the most convoluted political jobs he had ever dealt with.
This area has been worried about for years. https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/t...atch-on-sacramento-river-s-levees/ar-AA16eXFZ
There are multiple standardised measures of flood intensities. Typically, they are 1-in-20 year flood levels, 1-in-50 year flood levels, 1-in-100 year flood levels, 1-in-200 or 250 year flood levels, 1-in-500 year flood levels, and so on. The problem is, even the longest lived of humans only just gets just over 100 years of lifespan, so no-one living remembers what a one-in-a-100-year flood looks like - let alone a one-in-a-250 year, or one-in-a-500 year flood, looks like. We are now seeing the cycle of 1-in-200 year flood levels, and 1-in-500 year flood levels arrive, and many of these major flood levels weren't even recorded properly, if at all, back in the day. Many old records that were kept, have been lost - to both flood and fire. There have been many absolutely disastrous floods in previous centuries, but the greedy land developers who sell swampland and floodplain for building on, weren't so common in previous centuries - and the world's population back then, was only half or a quarter of what it is now. We are also reaping the penalty of major deforestation over several centuries. Mankind loves clearing land of heavy vegetation - which, if left in place, slows down water travel, and which also consumes some of the water. I'm more concerned about the the mega-droughts - the 1-in-1000 year droughts, that if one hits our modern societies for an extended period, means we will see upheaval like we've never seen in our lifetimes. We might face some losses and destruction from flooding, but we can't survive without an adequate and constant supply of water. This is the major problem with setting up colonies on other planets, water is crucial to our survival as a species.
I should correct what I said. I only know what goes on in Northern California where I live and visit. Basically as far south as Galt and San Francisco. Further south than that I consider the rest to be LA. That is where I think most of the floods of populated area pictures are from. Up here it has flooded some farm land and the Russian River always floods. I don't think the whole earth can see a drought at the same time. But it may happen on half a continent like has been here. But we grow grain on the Palouse, Kansas, Iowa, and other places. All over Europe and Russia. If somebody has none, somebody else might have a bumper crop. Now what it takes to get it from point A to B is well trained seafarers and railroaders and I suspect there are problems with any skilled trades like that.
I was the lead wrench on a fresh open pit coal mine in the mid eighties where we had two one hundred year storm events in three years? Huge farm grounds can't be prepared in short time frames. Dry out the Palouse, Kansas and Iowa and you better hope there is enough ground in Canada ready for planting. The other power house for grain has a scrap metal and explosive land leveling campaign going on right now.