For the Rapids City Times

STEVENS POINT – Tractor rollovers are the leading cause of death on Wisconsin farms, and now a bill to reduce those fatalities will be headed to the full State Senate for a vote after being approved by a bi-partisan committee late last week in Madison.

Senator Pat Testin from Stevens Point co-authored the bill with several other local lawmakers and said, “Tractor roll-overs are the ‘Number One’ cause of death on our farms across the state of Wisconsin.  So the legislation with Representative Kulp and State Senator Kathy Bernier is for tractor rollover protection systems.”

State Representative and organic farmer Tony Kurtz survived a tractor rollover and also championed the bill, which would provide rebates to encourage more farmers to install the ‘Rollover Protection Structures’ on their tractors.

Testin expects that the bill should easily make its way through the legislative process, right up to the governor’s desk.  “So the bill is out there getting bi-partisan support, and hopefully it’ll get to Governor Evers’ desk and be signed into law.”

Marshfield Clinic’s ‘National Farm Medicine Center’ originally initiated the tractor rollover prevention program back in 2012, and since then the program has helped fund around 250 of the protective structures.