U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack warned consumers Wednesday that the worsening drought blanketing more than half of the country will lead to higher prices for everything from hamburger and bacon to bread and cereals later this year.

The searing heat and sparse rainfall, which has depleted lakes and reservoirs and left some farmers helpless as their corn and soybean crops wither in dry fields, has left the country suffering through its worst drought since 1956. Especially devastated has been the Midwest, where much of the country’s corn, soybeans and other crops are grown.

Livestock producers, in an effort to minimize future losses, are expected to begin reducing their herds because of high feed costs. While the glut of meat should benefit consumers in the near-term, the reduction in cattle, swine and other livestock could come back to bite shoppers.

“In the short-term, food prices for beef, poultry and pork may go down, but over time they will rise. You will probably see those higher food prices later this year, first part of next year,” Vilsack told reporters after meeting with President Obama to discuss the drought. The country’s top agriculture official said a sharp drop in crop yields also would make its way into processed foods that line grocery store shelves early in 2013.

The USDA forecasts food prices to rise between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent this year after they surged 3.7 percent last year.

The first half of the year was the country’s warmest on record with more than 2,000 new high temperatures set so far, according to government data. Almost 1,300 U.S. counties, or about a third of those in the United States, have been declared as disaster areas, allowing farmers access to low-interest emergency loans and other aid packages. So far, none of those counties is in South Dakota.

Meanwhile, yields have been slashed, pushing corn prices to $7.83 a bushel, an increase of $2.78 since early June, and soybeans to $16.20, up $3.80 during that time.

Gregg Ode, who farms near Brandon, uses his corn to feed his estimated 530 cattle. Unless his crop receives rain soon, he will not produce enough corn and will have to buy more on the open market, he said Wednesday.

“As far as the ability to put corn on the cob, we’re going to need moisture really quick, otherwise I don’t think we’re going to have anything,” said Ode, who noted his 550 acres of corn have received a third of an inch of rain since the beginning of June. “It’s going to be a tough year.”

The surge in corn prices and dwindling output has renewed calls for the Environmental Protection Agency to grant relief to oil refiners through a waiver from a government mandate that requires ethanol to be blended into gasoline. Vilsack said it was not something he thought needed to be addressed. “There is no need to go to the EPA at this point in time based on the quantity of ethanol that is currently in storage,” he said.

Federal lawmakers, state officials and others have been left scrambling to find ways to help farmers and ranchers weather the drought.

For his part, Vilsack has grown increasingly frustrated over Congress’ failure to pass a farm bill or enact other types of disaster legislation that would give the USDA a broader range of tools to help agriculture producers. The USDA was given the authority to operate five disaster assistance programs in the 2008 Farm Bill, but the authority expired Sept. 30.

Lawmakers have pushed the USDA to release land from the country’s estimated 29.6 million acre Conservation Reserve Program for emergency haying and grazing. The Conservation Reserve, created in 1985, pays farmers, ranchers and other agricultural producers to idle environmentally sensitive land for 10 years or more.

The USDA has indicated it might choose to open up more reserve land as soon as next month, but some have pushed for a faster response. Rep. Kristi Noem, R-S.D., who along with other lawmakers has supported action on the reserve, criticized the administration.

“They are out of touch with the realities of the devastation on the ground, a shortage of feed, a shortage of water and a real need for relief,” Noem said Wednesday. “They have all the ability within the secretary of (agriculture’s) office to make that decision today and make it happen with the snap of their fingers.”

Sens. Tim Johnson and John Thune also say that the USDA should release CRP land for emergency haying and grazing.

In a conference call with reporters Wednesday, Johnson said he supports the request to open CRP land and farmable wetland acres to haying and grazing, and he has pressed that claim with the administration.

“With each passing day, the feed value of that grass diminishes,” Johnson said. “It is important to access that hay as soon as possible.”

There are signs the USDA actively is considering use of conservation reserve land, based on individual county conditions, although final decisions are pending. If the administration approves the use of the land — for grazing or haying — a producers who use it would see their reserve payment from the government reduced by 10 percent.

“Further actions will obviously be needed as the damages and consequences worsen,” said Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, who said the USDA and Obama administration have responded well to the rapidly worsening drought.

“Currently, the most pressing issue is to help livestock producers, particularly through access to forage on Conservation Reserve Program acreage. The Department of Agriculture is working now, as I understand it, to allow use of CRP forage as soon as possible while complying with a federal court order requiring protection of wildlife habitat,” he said.

Thune, meanwhile, has added a survey to his website asking South Dakota producers for suggestions on changes that could be made to programs that would help in dealing with the drought.

“I am looking for input from agriculture producers across South Dakota as to how federal disaster assistance programs can be altered to best meet their needs during this difficult situation,” Thune said in a statement. “Across South Dakota, I have seen fields continue to deteriorate due to lack of rain and high temperatures. ... These conditions are only expected to get worse, and I want to hear what ideas those who deal with the disaster first hand may have to help alleviate some of the red-tape or bureaucratic requirements.”

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