This is not an easy market to disrupt... the barrier to entry for manufacturing a $200,000 tractor or $500,000 combine is high, and the market is not that large.

This isn't like coming up with a better lightbulb that cost $2 to manufacture and will sell millions. And while the large farms may cycle through their equipment in 5 years, a small farmer may keep his in operation for 20+ years, so there's not a whole lot of equipment turnover for an upstart to break into.

Then again, if you come up with a little harvester that autonomously harvests 1/4 acre, fits in a suitcase and costs $100, you just might sell millions. People will want better $500k harvesters like they want Zeppelins with more lift or faster steam ships.

I do actually want a Zeppelin. Having a residence floating in the air is kinda cool I think.

John Deere is a brand name in the US. There are several Asian companies that compete with them. When was the last time you bought a tractor? Mahindra, Kubota, New Holland Ag, Case-Farmall and Massey-Ferguson. Have you looked at the competitive landscape?

Most of that list are American or European.

Yup, and longer. Heavy equipment is built to a different standard, our Compact Utility Tractor is ~30 years old and still going strong.

What about replacing only the software? Or will they claim it's illegal and you still don't own the hardware?

Then they'll only allow signed software to run. Trying to start a business on a hostile platform doesn't sound like a good idea.

How would you make money off this?

The rich don't understand barriers to entry? Sure, throw enough money at the barrier and you can climb it, but that's not so much a revolutionary state of mind as it is just having enough money to try something expensive.

You can think however you like, the barrier doesn't care.

The disruption is probably not in the form of traditional hardware. You'll have to attack a different problem that tractors or other heavy farm equipment solve.

For example, can you bioengineer bugs that keep plants safe, but eat weeds or pests? This is part of the tractor's job: chemical spray. Can you create a swarm of planters to efficiently distribute the seed? Can you do either of these or more with an open platform? Can you survive the onslaught of legal attack from the megaliths you're trying to topple?

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you, If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run, Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it, And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!