MT. VERNON, Ind. — Transporting crops is a multibillion-dollar venture every year – and by river barge on the inland waterway system is the best value, according to those who are connected to it.

There’s no better way to get a glimpse of how it works than on a comfortable riverboat cruise with a couple hundred like-minded individuals. The fifth annual Ohio River Lock Tour recently offered ag people from Indiana, eastern Illinois and western Kentucky that opportunity aboard the Spirit of Jefferson, including a trip through the John T. Myers Lock and Dam system near Mt. Vernon in southwestern Indiana.

One of the main points reiterated by the speakers throughout the day was that the entire system is at risk from neglect and underfunding. If one of the locks fails, the river is effectively closed to traffic from that point. Paul Rohde, eastern vice president of the Waterways Council, said 39 percent of the locks and dams on the inland waterway system are older than 70 years; the average life expectancy of a lock and dam is about 50 years.

There is a bill in Congress now to support upgrades throughout the aging infrastructure, Rohde noted. He said House Resolution 4342 addresses the backlog of rehab and new construction for U.S. locks and dams, to the tune of $8 billion.

Kenny Allen, Armstrong Coal Co. vice president of operations, encouraged participants to contact their elected officials about the proposed legislation. “It’s important to get politicians to focus on infrastructure,” he said.

U.S. Rep. Ed Whitfield (R-Ky.) supports the bill, Allen said. Whitfield and Illinois Democratic Rep. Jerry Costello introduced the bill, also known as Waterways Are Vital for the Economy, Energy, Efficiency and Environment Act of 2012, or WAVE4. New ports are being built along the waterway, Allen said, which will put more stress on the locks and dams.

While cruising on the river, folks standing on the outside decks noticed several elevators. Jim Elliot, from Cargill’s Princeton, Ind., facility, said along that stretch of river there is an ADM flour mill, a grain facility operated by Consolidated Grain and Barge and a new Cargill plant.

He said the last facility has a  seven million-bushel capacity. In an average year, he said, Cargill ships 65-70 percent of its grain by barge. Not only has the drought affected this year’s crops, Elliott said, but low water levels have affected shipping, forcing barges to traverse the waterways with less than full loads.

Most years, 51.8 million tons of grain are shipped on barges down the Ohio River. With the drought this year, Elliott said there will be grain also shipped upstream “to balance the need.”  Since this will be a domestic market year, he said only 25-30 percent of Cargill’s shipments will go by barge.

Biofuel producers have recognized the importance of river shipping, too, according to Christopher Standlee of Abengoa, an international company that applies innovative technology solutions for sustainability in the energy and environment sectors, generating energy from the sun, producing biofuel, desalinating sea water and recycling industrial waste.

He said of the three new plants in Indiana and Illinois, two are on the river. He said Abengoa barges about 80 percent of its ethanol production, mostly upstream. “On one gallon of fuel, you can move (a ton of cargo) 600 miles,” he said, so keeping the river open for transportation is vital.

There are five locks and dams on the Ohio River where it spans the Indiana-Kentucky border.

According to statistics provided by the Indiana Soybean Alliance (ISA) and the Indiana Corn Marketing Council, if one of those structures fails, Hoosier ag producers who only ship 5 percent of their crops on waterways would lose $18.6 million.

The facility at John T. Myers, 3.5 miles downriver from Uniontown, Ky., is on the rehab projects list because of deterioration of the dam and an increasing risk of structural failure. The Corps report indicates there is significant damage to the stilling basin floor below the dam gates.

The tour was organized by the Indiana Corn Growers Assoc. and ISA Membership & Policy Committee. Sponsors for the tour included CountryMark, Farm Credit Services of Mid America, Pioneer DuPont, the Kentucky Soybean Board and the Kentucky Corn Growers Assoc.