A total of $250,000 has been put back into the new state budget for the
lifesaving Rollover Protective Structure (ROPS)
Rebate Program, which equips tractors with special safety equipment to avoid
tractor overturns.
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| Ritchie |
Funding for this
program had been eliminated in the governor's Executive Budget proposal.
Tractor rollovers are the leading cause of
death on American farms, claiming the lives of nearly 100 farmers across the
country annually. While most tractors built after 1985 have built-in rollover
protection, tractors manufactured prior to that date — which many farmers use — do
not have the safety feature in place.
The ROPS Rebate Program helps protect
farmers by covering about 70 percent of the expense of purchasing and
installing ROPS, which typically cost between $800 and $1,200.
In the last 11 years, the program has
outfitted more than 1,500 tractors across the state with the
rollover-prevention device. However, nearly half of the tractors on New York
state farms are still operating without it.
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