It has been too dry for too long over too much of the state. The result has been that small grain production throughout the drought area has been negatively impacted. This growing season has been deeply impacted by a severe lack of rainfall over much of the state. Many crops have reached the point of no return. Gov. Doug Burgum has declared a drought disaster for nearly all of the state. The move is a necessary one to make ranchers and growers eligible for assistance from both state and federal sources. Farm Rescue has announced that they will be transporting hay free of charge to producers in need in the Dakotas and Montana. The Civil Air Patrol is on high alert in the event of wildfires. The weekly Drought Monitor issued its latest assessment of dry conditions Thursday. As expected, conditions have worsened over much of North Dakota from the previous week. Over 79 percent of the state is listed as being in moderate to exceptional drought. The area listed as in exceptional drought in Ward County expanded as did the percentage of exceptional drought in neighboring Mountrail County. Hay and crops in the affected area are far below what is normally harvested. The United States Department of Agriculture says topsoil moisture is short to very short over 67 percent of the state and subsoil is short in 62 percent of the state. Seventy-five percent of the rangeland and pasture in North Dakota is rated in poor to very poor condition. Corn and spring wheat are suffering too. “We have exceeded how dry it was in 2006,” said Adnan Akyuz, state climatologist. “From a historical perspective, I can say the drought today, based on state average numbers, is the worst drought since 2006. Only two times since 2000 have we reached exceptional drought conditions anywhere in the state.” Akyuz cautions that current methods…