CANTON -- In recent years, Sen. Patty Ritchie, R-Heuvelton, successfully advocated for restoring $950,000 in funding—including $250,000 in the most recent state budget—for the Rollover Protective Structure (ROPS) Rebate Program.

The program helps equip tractors with an important piece of safety equipment that helps reduce the risk of injury by up to 99 percent in the event of a tractor overturn. Since its establishment 10 years ago, the ROPS Rebate Program—which is administered by the New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health—has outfitted 1,500 tractors with safety equipment, which is up from roughly 1,300 a year ago.

On Tuesday, Ritchie visited the farm of William “Toby” Irven, a Canton horse farmer who has outfitted two tractors with life-saving equipment through the ROPS Rebate Program. Also joining in the press conference were New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health Director Dr. Julie Sorensen and ROPS Hotline Coordinator Rebecca Russell.

“When most people think of dangerous jobs, farming probably doesn’t 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,” said Senator Ritchie, who in addition to advocating for restoring funding for the ROPS Rebate Program, also worked to expand the types of tractors that could be outfitted with the safety equipment.

“It’s always said that you can’t put a price on safety, and that’s something that especially holds true on a farm,” said Canton farmer William “Toby” Irven.

“Every day, farmers across our state face countless challenges and it’s programs like this that help them to overcome those challenges and out of harm’s way while on the job,” said Dr. Sorensen.

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 70 percent of the cost of purchasing and installing ROPS, up to a maximum out of pocket cost of $500. If a farmer’s out of pocket expense is greater than $500, the New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health will increase the rebate to ensure the cost is capped at $500.