the vermont rops retrofit program

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