Grant to Fund Devices to Prevent Tractor Rollover Deaths

Farmers in Pennsylvania can get state reimbursement to pay for retrofitting their older tractors with life-saving rollover-protection structures — often referred to as ROPS — aided by a new Penn State program.

Tractor rollovers are the most frequent cause of death on farms, greatly contributing to the occupational fatality rate for farmers that is 800 percent higher than other industries, according to Judd Michael, professor of agricultural and biological engineering. He added that seven out of 10 farms go out of business within five years of a tractor-overturn fatality.

Roughly half of the tr...