Agriculture in North Dakota is an $11 billion a year industry, and the state leads the nation in the production of nearly a dozen crops.
"It’s going to affect bread at the grocery store counter," Goehring said, though he didn’t put a figure on how much costs might go up for shoppers.
The latest Drought Monitor map shows nearly all of western North Dakota in severe or extreme drought, conditions that extend into northern South Dakota and northeastern Montana.
John Weinand has had less than 2.5 inches of rain on his farm near Beulah, which is northwest of Bismarck, since the beginning of May.
Weinand figures his wheat crop will be half what it usually is.
"What we’re trying to do is hold onto our main cow herd, get through the year, and hopefully next year is better," Martin said.
The Agriculture Department has authorized other aid, including forage disaster payments and emergency haying and grazing of land enrolled in conservation and wetland programs.
Neither does crop insurance, which pays only a portion of what a farmer would get by selling a typical crop, said Goehring, who in addition to heading the state Agriculture Department is a farmer who has worked in the insurance industry.
The demand has pushed prices to as much as double the normal cost.
"We’ll make it through," Martin said.