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• "I have solace in the fact that we did everything we could and we did it to the best of our ability and now whatever happens, happens," he said. "It's sort of a philosophical moment."
• Corn and soybeans have developed enough that weather conditions are not likely to reduce the number of kernels on the corn cob or the seeds in soybean pods. But those kernels and seeds could develop smaller and weigh less, which could reduce the harvest this fall, Elmore said.
• Unless it's a drastic reduction, it's unlikely to affect consumer prices at the grocery store. A shortage of corn and soybeans from a bad year would likely have a more immediate impact on meat prices because it costs more for livestock farmers to feed their herds.
• The dry conditions aren't confined to Middle America: for the first time since early April, more than half of the country is now in some stage of drought, according to the weekly U.S. Drought Monitor report released Thursday. That includes much of the West, where the hot, dry weather has fueled wildfires.
• Drought conditions surged in the past week in corn-producing states, up to 45 percent of the region from 25 percent the week before, said Brad Rippey, a meteorologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Soybeans in drought also increased sharply in the last week to 38 percent from 16 percent, he said.
• In northwest Kansas, farmer Brian Baalman watched the temperature reach 94 degrees on his truck thermometer Wednesday. He farms about 30 miles west of Colby, where corn plants are turning white and ears are drooping as the heat kills the corn that's not irrigated.
• "We are basically back to where we (were) in the moisture situation before the rain came, you know," he said. "Go west of me and it is a lot different, drier yet, and folks are worse off than we are," he said.
• Lack of rain has caused drought conditions to expand in most of Wisconsin and Minnesota, along with eastern Illinois, western Indiana and northern Michigan, and parts of Texas, Arkansas, and Louisiana, according to the drought report.
• Rain eased drought in portions of northern Nebraska, though much of the western half of the state remains in extreme drought. The report also shows that abnormally dry conditions, one stage below drought, expanded in eastern Iowa and South Dakota.
• All of those states grow either corn or soybeans, or both.
• In Wisconsin, where farmers have been waiting weeks for rain, grazing usually provides about half of the food that the 550 dairy cows consume in the summer at Saxon Homestead Farm. But this year, the pastures are providing only about a third

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