A FARMER has been fatally crushed while operating a tractor on a property at Heytesbury Lower, near Peterborough, Victoria, on Monday.

It is believed the 84-year-old was using a scraper attachment to clear cow manure from a concrete dairy path when the tractor’s rear wheels have slipped into a slurry pond and he became pinned between the tractor’s steering wheel and a steel beam at the pond’s edge.

He was found unresponsive about 5pm.

The death is the 40th confirmed workplace fatality in Victoria for 2025.

There were 41 work-related deaths in the state at the same time last year.

Of the workplace fatalities so far in 2025, two have occurred in the agricultural sector.

In 2024, there were seven confirmed agricultural workplace deaths, according to a WorkSafe Victoria spokesperson.

Source: WorkSafe Victoria