Money Put Back in State Budget for ROPS Program

From the office of state Sen. Patty Ritchie:

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.   

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. 

ROPS Can Save Farmers' Lives

A column by state Sen. Patty Ritchie, chair of the Senate ag committee:

Ritchie

When most people think of dangerous jobs, farming probably does not immediately come to mind. 

However, the fatality rate for farmers is 800 percent higher than all other American workers, with the leading cause of death on a farm being tractor rollover incidents.

In the past few years, I have been proud to have secured $1.2 million, including $250,000 in the new state budget, for a program that helps to protect farmers from tractor rollover incidents. In the last two years, nine farmers have died in tractor rollovers.

As Senate Agriculture Committee Chair, I have worked to ensure the continuation of the Rollover Protective Structure (ROPS) Rebate Program, which equips tractors with special safety equipment to avoid tractor overturns. ROPS has reduced the risk of injury by up to 99 percent in the event of a tractor overturn.

The 10-year-old program, operated by the New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health, has outfitted more than 1,500 tractors across the state. However, nearly half of the tractors on New York’s 35,000 farms, and a majority of those over 20 years old, have no safety equipment and pose a great risk of tractor instability.

Unfortunately, many farmers think they are exempt from this risk and the high cost of ROPS kits ($800 to $2,500) are two factors why farmers do not have them. The benefit of this program also rests in the savings to the state farming community and its insurers of $12 million. 

As the 2017 Legislative Session continues, I will be working to support this essential program, as well as other programs that will not only protect of our state’s hard working farmers, but will help them grow their operations for years to come.   

For more information the ROPS Rebate Program, visit my website at www.ritchie.nysenate.gov.