The Legislature finds the following:

1. Oklahoma is one of the leading agricultural-producing states in the nation. By being involved in such a diverse and highly mechanized industry, the more than one hundred thirty-five thousand agricultural workers in Oklahoma are susceptible to any one of a number of work-related injuries and chronic health problems that limit the ability of an individual to safely continue farming;

2. Available estimates indicate that each year in Oklahoma more farm workers sustain fatal injuries than any other work group and often have nonfatal injuries which result in permanent physical disabilities affecting their future income;

3. It is estimated that nationwide more than two hundred thousand farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural workers experience injuries that result in lost work time. Of these injuries, five percent (5%) have serious or permanent results;

4. According to recent survey data, approximately seventeen thousand Oklahoma farmers have permanent disabilities as a result of accidents, health-related ailments, and age.

5. Farm operators and workers are typically highly skilled individuals and the loss of these individuals to a disability negatively impacts the Oklahoma farm economy. The AgrAbility Project established by the United States Department of Agriculture has been successful in helping agricultural workers with a disbility to continue to farm. A similar program established by the state, working as part of the existing Oklahoma AgrAbility Project, will assist even more Oklahoma citizens in receiving the necessary assistance and will benefit the state agriculture industry.

Added by Laws 2007, c. 181, § 2, eff. Nov. 1, 2007.