NEWBURGH, Ind. — Coming back to one of the cities she represented while she a state representative, Indiana Lt. Gov. Sue Ellspermann said she grew up in a small town about 40 miles east of the Newburgh Lock and Dam – and that she always knew the importance agriculture played in the state’s economy.

Her father, a Ferdinand jeweler, said, “If the farmers don’t have a good year, we don’t have a good year,” she told the group of farmers and ag business reps during lunch after the Ohio River Tour.

Ellspermann said earlier this summer, she and members of the state’s trade mission spent 14 days overseas. “It was a pleasure to get our associations and our farmers in front of three Asian countries,” she said. “Opening more opportunities for agriculture is vital.”

She said her office is trying to increase profits for agriculture on both the front end and the back end. She said she hopes another trade mission can be established for a China trip.

Ellspermann also co-chairs a Blue Ribbon Panel on Transportation Infrastructure, along with Cathy Langham, that will examine the future of the next generation of roads, railway, waterway and air initiatives for the next decade. She said the panel will carefully plan for the future. Three tiers of projects are being considered.

On the policy side, she said she knows the Army Corps of Engineers is going to do important things with our waterways. “Funding is critical for infrastructure,” she said. “Another $3.8 billion from Major Moves isn’t going to happen.”

Ellspermann wasn’t the only one to travel this year. Indiana was the first stop on a four-state tour for a 19-member crop tour team from China, and the Ohio River Barge Tour was likely to be one of the more unusual highlights.

As they cruised the Ohio River on a barge with 200 farmers and ag industry reps, the delegation discussed soybeans.

The team’s leader, Zhang Xiao Ping, a member of the U.S. Soybean Export Council, explained the group is looking at 2014 crop yields as an assessment of the potential crop size and how that will impact markets.

Members of the team are market analysts from all over China and were to visit Illinois, Iowa and Missouri during their two weeks in the United States.

Ping said China is in the top 10 global soybean-producing countries, in terms of total volume. “Beans in Indiana look good to supply our needs,” he said.

During the tour, Stine Seed representative Kyle Ross of Rockport urged the Chinese team to talk with their government to encourage China to adopt a wider spectrum of grain varieties they accept for import.

The United States currently holds 40 percent of the Chinese import market share, Ping said.

Brazil and other countries hold the remaining 60 percent.