GOODLAND ? Gov. Kathleen Sebelius rode a combine around a wheat field for the first time in her life and went deep into the underground belly of a grain elevator to get a firsthand look Thursday at a wheat harvest that promises the state’s best crop since 1999.

“We hope to share with Kansas the good news of the harvest. When the western part of the state does well, so does the eastern part of the state,” Sebelius said.

Kansas Agriculture Secretary Adrian Polansky accompanied the governor to Goodland, and said he hoped the visit focused attention on western Kansas and its wheat production. Residents in the eastern part of the state need to know the value of agriculture, he said.

It was a message not lost on the governor, who said 40 percent of Kansas jobs were tied to agriculture in some way. She told residents after her farm tour it was great to have a chance to get a “personal acquaintance” with the wheat harvest. She said she had been told the crop was 70 percent larger than last year.

Among those who watched the governor ride around in a combine were bankers Richard Liess and Merlyn Stasser of Western State Bank in Goodland. This harvest, Liess said, is just as important psychologically as it is financially to the community.

“Our farmers have been so dry for so long,” Liess said. “Of course, their attitude has a lot to do with their operation. When year after year they don’t have anything to put in the bin, it gets very discouraging.”

Brian Linin, chief financial officer for Frontier Equity and a board member for the local Chamber of Commerce, said business had been down 40 percent to 60 percent during the drought.

“We need a big harvest to put money back in our economy. That is critical,” he said. “We are hoping for a bigger-than-expected crop to revive us.”