A SOUTH-WEST farmer says productivity in the region will take a hit if quad bikes are no longer available on the Australian market.
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Heywood farmer Georgina Gubbins said all parties involved needed to come to a sensible solution.
"We need to find a solution without them withdrawing from the market because in our rainfall area we're going to be stuffed without ATVs (all terrain vehicles)," she said.
"The side-by-sides will just get bogged in our environment. It's just a joke and it's very disappointing the VFF's (Victorian Farmers Federation) stance on this.
"Yes we do have to reduce deaths on farm, no one is disputing that.
"There has to be a solution among all of this, the VFF have said 'well put role bars on', well we've got them on ours and we get caught on trees."
As of October next year Honda will stop selling quad bikes in Australia, following in the footsteps of Polaris and Yamaha.
The decision comes as new federal government standards will require all quad bikes be fitted with rollover protection from October 2021.
On Tuesday The Standard reported local farmers were buying multiple quad bikes and dealerships were running out of stock with manufacturers set to pull out of the Australian market.
Ms Gubbins said she wanted to see data that showed what age groups and types of bikes that had been involved in farm deaths.
"The solution is not to have them withdraw from the market because it will impact the productivity of this region," she said.
"There are a number of four-wheel-motorbikes that are going to be withdrawn from the market that are the motorbikes of choice for a reason and for the farmers particularly in this region which is one of the highest use regions in Australia."
Ms Gubbins said the data showed that side by side vehicles were causing more deaths then quad bikes.
"That's because people don't put the seat belts on and the helmets on when they're in side by sides so it's not actually solving our problem," she said.
Philip Russell from Philip Russell Motorcycles said there were more deaths in side-by-sides than quad bikes.
"Last year there were eight deaths on ATVs and there were seven deaths on side-by-side vehicles but there's 10 times more ATVs in the field then what there are side by sides, so the statistics tell you that ATVs are 10 times safer but nobody seems to mention that," he said.
The VFF has been contacted for comment.
