“Normally they begin in July and go through the middle of August, but this year they started in June. So we've had an extraordinary amount of heat and lack of water."

U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack designated all of Missouri’s 114 counties as disaster areas, enabling farmers to access federal assistance, in mid-July.  As much as 93 percent of the state is suffering through extreme drought conditions.  

David Franscka said it's the worst his family has seen in more than 50 years of dairy farming.

Paying more for feed than getting for milk
"This year, with the intense heat we've had and the lack of rain, we've had only two measurable rains since April 30,” said Franscka.

Ponds have dried up, forcing his family to haul as much as 8,000 gallons of water each day to the cattle herd. Pastures aren't producing any hay or grass for grazing either, leaving many farmers, like Franscka, with no choice but to buy feed – which right now costs more than the milk he's producing.

"'We've spent in excess of $150,000 over the last three months just on the added costs,” he said. “Anytime you're getting less for your milk than you're paying for your feed – it's not going to come out.”

“That's what's discouraging, knowing you’re going in the hole everyday money-wise,” he said. “But you have to keep hoping and holding on, thinking it's going to change."

Some smaller farms have been forced to close down – selling-off their cattle for slaughter.

Slideshow: America's farmland baking in drought

Drought conditions plague much of the United States after a summer of scorching temperatures and a lack of rain. The dryness is affecting America's farmland, threatening crops like soybean and corn.

Launch slideshow

Franscka said he's sold 60 out of the 1,000 head of cattle he had at the start of the summer – to help pay the bills and keep the milk flowing until the rain does.

"You persevere day to day, and just try to do what you can do today to make it till tomorrow. Just keep praying to the good Lord that he's going to send some rain,” he said.

It’s a prayer that continues to echo across Missouri, and the entire Midwest. 

More coverage of the drought: 

Drought sends Mississippi into ‘uncharted territory’ 

‘Best year ever’ for some farmers outside drought region    

Drought expected to take toll at checkout

Americans tell their story of #Drought2012 

In drought-stricken Wisconsin, farmers helping farmers  

Emergency well drilling brings relief to farmers stricken by drought

Have you been affected by the worst drought in more than 50 years? Share your photos with us on Instagram, Tumblr or Twitter with the tag #Drought2012. You can also upload your photos in the box below. 

Just over half of the counties in the U.S. are now labeled "natural disaster areas" after the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Wednesday added 218 counties in 12 states to the list.

With drought drying up food crops and animal feedstock, the USDA also said it was allowing haying and grazing on 3.8 million protected acres, many of them wetlands, and that insurance companies agreed to a 30-day grace period for farmers on insurance premiums.

"The assistance announced today will help U.S. livestock producers dealing with climbing feed prices, critical shortages of hay and deteriorating pasturelands," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement announcing the moves.

The Nature Conservancy said it was OK with the emergency haying and grazing as long as it is "carried out with minimal impacts to wildlife and habitats."

Across 32 states, ranchers and farmers in 1,584 counties -- 50.3 percent of the total -- are now eligible for low-interest loans. Some 90 percent of those counties were listed due to drought conditions.

That's a new record and one that's been broken repeatedly in recent weeks as more counties have been added. The declarations first started on July 12.

On Monday, the USDA rated as "good-to-excellent" just 24 percent of the corn crop and 29 percent of the soybean crop, both down 2 percentage points from the previous week. 

The ratings are the worst since 1988, another year of severe drought in the nation's crop-growing mid-section.

Crop shortages in turn mean higher food prices. The USDA last week raised its estimates of food price inflation, saying prices could rise as much as 3.5 percent this year and up to 4 percent in 2013, led by meat.

And while the latest USDA steps might help ranchers and farmers, those groups on Monday joined forces to ask that the Environmental Protection Agency curb the mandate to produce ethanol from corn, saying it was driving up prices for animal feed.

Related story: Give us an ethanol break, livestock producers say

A state or ethanol refiner must ask for such a waiver, and that hasn't happened, at least not yet.

In a statement to NBC News, the EPA said it was in "close contact with USDA as they and we keep an eye on crop yield estimates, and we will review any data or information submitted by stakeholders, industry and states." 

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Competing for corn with ethanol producers at a time of sky-high prices and drought, cattlemen and other livestock producers have asked for some relief but their plea has yet to get the needed support.

The help would have to come via the Environmental Protection Agency, which has the power to temporarily reduce the amount of ethanol required to be mixed into gasoline for vehicles. Since ethanol is cleaner than petroleum, its use in vehicles helps reduce overall air pollution. 

But the request for a waiver must come from a state or a refiner -- and a day after the plea was made that still hasn't happened.

"Our ears are open and the line of communications is open," Mike Deering, a spokesman for the National Cattlemen's Beef Association, told NBC News. But, he added, "we do not have any definitive news at this point and time."

The Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol trade group, told NBC News that it "wouldn't be surprised" to see a request.

In a statement, the EPA told NBC News that it was in "close contact with USDA as they and we keep an eye on crop yield estimates, and we will review any data or information submitted by stakeholders, industry and states." 

Still, Mark McMinimy, biofuels analyst at Guggenheim Partners Washington Research Group, told Reuters he wasn't expecting any change. "I am not sure if this changes the landscape all that much," he said of the livestock producers' plea. "EPA officials and the secretary of agriculture (Tom Vilsack) have all indicated that they are not considering a waiver at this time."

Texas Gov. Rick Perry failed in his attempt to get a waiver in 2008, and the November elections could make for continued status quo given that President Barack Obama and many other lawmakers are strong supporters of ethanol, which is hugely popular in farm states.

Corn prices have risen 60 percent in six weeks, Reuters reports, and about a third of the U.S. corn supply is used for ethanol. About as much is used as animal feed.

"The drought-induced reductions in the corn supply means that the mandated utilization of corn for renewable fuels will so reduce the supply of corn and increase its price that livestock and poultry producers will be forced to reduce the size of their herds and flocks, causing some to go out of business and jobs to be lost," the cattlemen's association and other livestock groups said in their letter to EPA chief Lisa Jackson.

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EPA

A Maine dairy farm's manure lagoon is seen leaking into a stream. The Environmental Protection Agency says its overflights of farms and ranches help detect pollution like this 2006 case.

A Nebraska cattlemen’s group is pushing the Environmental Protection Agency to stop pollution-control flights over ranches, claiming it amounts to spying on citizens. EPA, meanwhile, says the flights are an effective way to quickly spot -- and stop -- pollution from manure lagoons and other waste at large livestock operations.

Nebraska's five federal lawmakers joined the fight this week, demanding to know on what authority EPA is flying over and photographing private property. The lawmakers sent their demands to EPA chief Lisa Jackson on Tuesday, listing a battery of questions and demanding answers by June 10. 

EPA has been operating these flights across the country for nearly 10 years. 

"These operations are in many cases near homes, and landowners deserve legitimate justification given the sensitivity of the information gathered by the flyovers," Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb., said in a statement. "Nebraskans are rightfully skeptical of an agency which continues to unilaterally insert itself into the affairs of Rural America."

The issue was brought to the lawmakers' attention by Nebraska Cattlemen, which represents the state's beef producers.

"The same ends could be accomplished by picking up a phone, sending an email, talking to a producer in person," Kristen Hassebrook, the group's environmental affairs director, told msnbc.com. "There is no need to spy on citizens."

"Another frustration," she added, is that "EPA does not alert livestock producers that the flight will occur or has occurred."

The flights, she insists, found "few potential issues" and EPA usually misinterpreted what was happening on the ground or photographed something that Nebraska regulators were already aware of and working with ranchers on. 

EPA plans to respond to lawmakers' questions by June 10. Spokesman Ben Washburn emphasized that the flights help "minimize costs and reduce the number of on-site inspections across the country."

"In no case," he added, "has EPA taken an enforcement action solely on the basis of these overflights."

EPA met with cattlemen in eastern Nebraska in March to address concerns.

Ron Coufal, who represents cattle feeders in Cuming County, told Brownfield Ag News his concerns were allayed after seeing the photos.

"I can see that it probably is saving our government money by having the overflights and not going to every feedlot to see if they’re in compliance," he said.

Hassebrook says privacy is the bigger issue. 

"Someone’s home, their children’s playground, their decks where they have family parties, are generally right there, smack dab in the middle of their business" and EPA cameras, she said. "Even if it’s not their (EPA’s) primary focus, you still have privacy rights in your home -- so I have serious reservations as to whether or not they should be taking such photos."

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