SHERBURNE – State Senator James Seward (R/C/I-Oneonta) paid visit to a Sherburne farm on Tuesday to tout a safety initiative that he says is a life-saving measure for both farmers and New York’s economy.

Marking the start of National Farm Safety and Health Week, Seward announced funding for the ninth round of the New York Rollover Protection System (ROPS) program, a highly successful program that rebates farmers who retrofit an older model tractor with a rollover protection system.

The ROPS program rebates farmers 70 percent of the cost of purchasing and installing a roll bar system up to a max out-of-pocket cost of $500. If the cost to a farmer is greater than $500, then the New York Center for Agricultural Medicine and Health (NYCAMH) will increase the rebate.

“Anything that can be done to help our farmers deal with the financial burdens they face while at the same time improving farm safety has my strong support,” Seward said outside Sunny Slope Farm in Sherburne.

Rollover protection systems are factory installed on tractors built after 1985. Nevertheless, many farmers still rely on tractors that are older that don’t have any standard of protection in the event of a rollover.

Tractor rollovers are the most frequent cause of death on the farm, according to NYCAMH. And while instances of injury or death are certainly devastating to families, it also has an indelible affect on the economy, said Seward. NYCAMH cites that seven out of ten farms go out of business within a year of a tractor rollover.

“Agriculture is New York’s number one industry. It’s vital to our state’s economy and it’s vital to our way of life,” said Seward. “But farming is also a very dangerous occupation. There are a number of risk factors that must be minimized in order to help protect those who produce our food and work our land.”