@hammerandtongs88 – only just noticed your post.
Firstly, I would say that farmer complaints about the repair of hi-tech equipment have no bearing on whether you could find a market for low-tech equipment manufacture at low-production levels!
I’ve thought about the market for low-tech equip’ manufacture myself. Whether I will pursue idc (in partnership with metal-manipulating brother) is another matter.
There is a decent market for low-end, purely mechanical equipment (although the odd hydraulic cylinder might feature) in the small farm/small-holder sector. But, how to tap into it profitably (?) given that there are many v large factories (and they are
not all in China !) churning out fairly standard equipment, e.g. small ploughs, various types of harrow, rakes, fork-lifts, bale spikes, quick 3PL adaptors etc etc etc, at quite competitive prices with reasonable production quality.
Re stuff like ploughs: I can’t see it would be viable at low volume production unless you buy-in pre-formed plough shares and other profiled parts to build the plough body around.
I would suggest h&t88 that you do a thorough trawl of the types of smaller tractor & ATV implements presently on offer (3PL mounted or towed) and then decide whether you can produce at a lower price. I offer a few, off-the-cuff, examples as a starter – field-rollers, various types of tined harrows & bracken bruisers.
Work out what you can offer competitively and then get yourself a web-site offering some "standard" products (if you haven’t done so already). Throw-in bespoke manufacture and repair service and see what happens.
All to the good if you can high-light the traditional smithy angle, but, I would suggest, do not over do the "traditional" bit: I am one of those folk who equate "traditional" with more £s than I really need to fork out. I suspect there are many owners of small farms/small-holdings who will think the same.
Just some idle thoughts for what they are worth (or not).
Good luck!