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The Vermont ROPS Retrofit Program ROPS = Roll-Over Protective Structure Sponsors: Help Save Lives & Get Recognition!
The VermontROPS Retrofit Program
ROPS = Roll-Over Protective Structure
Sponsors: Help Save Lives & Get Recognition!
Vermont FarmersBackbone of Vermont
Food on our table every day
An Open Landscape…
A Working Landscape
Do farmers have a sustainable future?
Farmers face many challenges
• Milk Prices• Feed Prices• Crop failure due to weather• Debt and credit problems• Safety
• 8 times more likely to die on the job then the average worker
• Rollovers = Approximately ½ of deaths
ONE in TEN tractor operators overturns a tractor in his or her lifetime
Why bother with
ROPS?
The leading cause of death on the farm is
due to tractor rollovers
80 % of tractor overturns happen to highly experienced
tractor drivers
Average Farmer is 55 Years
Old
The Northeast States have the highest rate of overturn
fatalities & injuries
No Farmer, No Farm
7 of 10 farms are out of business within one year
of a rollover fatality
A farming fatality costs the family and society
approximately $910,000
Over half of rollover injuries result in:
Hospitalization 70 lost working days
One in Seven farmers are permanently disabled in
tractor rollovers
ROPS are 99% effective!
An $800 investment in ROPS prevents:
Farm family tragedy Injury & Disability$910,000 cost to society
New York saw a 10-fold increase in ROPS purchases
in just one year!
A Media Campaign to motivate farmers A 70% rebate to farmers for cost of a ROPS A Hotline to guide smooth ROPS purchases
Strategy for VermontA Media Campaign targeting High Risk farmers A 70% Rebate to farmersA ROPS HotlineRaise $60,000 to provide rebates in 2011
Top three reasons farmers don’t install ROPS
“It won’t happen to me”“Can’t afford it”“No time to order”
TimelineDecember 2009 - August 2010 Identify Barriers and Motivators to install ROPS Identify Key Media outlets Begin message testing in focus groups
September 2010 - November 2010 Order advertising Launch campaign and monitor for outcomes
ROPS save Lives, Families, Farms
Our Vermont Partners The Vermont Agency of Agriculture, Food and Markets
The Vermont Farm Bureau Vermont farm families Co-Operative Insurance Companies
Recognition for our Key Partners
Your logo displayed in our “Media Blitz”Newspapers, Magazines, Newsletters Banners and Pamphlets at Farm Shows,
Conferences, Equipment Dealers, etc.
Recognition continued…
Radio, Earned Media, Across the Fence
Logo/Hotlinks on four websites Featured in Farmsafe Facebook,
Blog and in statewide list serves, etc.
Social Networking Presence
Partner with us and Help protectFarmers FarmsCosts to Society
