And we are talking about a state actor here. I am sure that Russia can find a way to bypass the lock and if not, as mentioned in the article, they will sell the parts.
However, if I was a farmer, I wouldn't want JD to have that level of control on my property. I would want JD to handle that control to me, ideally under the form of public and documented API and free software.
In more lawful areas a theft can not use a stolen tractor because of police. Since Eastern Europe is not so lawful, the owner will not receive new tractor or something.
So where is a good use coming from in your understanding?
Just from the fact that the theft will receive $30k in cash instead of $100k as the tractor cost? And that is the reason to buy a tractor with a killswitch which in some another situation (used not original parts, insulted the JD team, did something against ToS) might be activated AGAINST the owner?
A vehicle should be able to be used without ever being online.
Otherwise you are at the mercy of udpates, the provider good will (and John Deere as little), network availability and so on.
Stallman is extreme, but he got that part right. DRM and other bricking mechanism are not our friends.
Based on an iPhone 14 @ $1500 and what I saw on a price list I googled, John Deere tractors seem to range from around $40k to around $575k. That's a really wide range, from 20x to nearly 400x as expensive.
https://commercialvehicleinfo.com/john-deere-tractors-price-...
Account locks have done a huge amount to reduce phone theft, a tractor is 100x more expensive.