00:00American farmers from Texas to Nebraska are watching their fields turn to dust.
00:04And forecasters are comparing conditions to the worst drought in a generation.
00:09Drought now covers more than 40% of the continental United States.
00:13In the western half of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, and eastern Colorado, conditions are deteriorating rapidly.
00:23Topsoil moisture in key wheat and corn growing regions has fallen to levels last seen during the catastrophic 2012 drought.
00:31The worst U.S. agricultural drought since the 1950s Dust Bowl era.
00:36Crop insurance payouts are already climbing.
00:38The USDA has signaled that winter wheat yields across the southern plains may fall sharply.
00:44Beef prices, already elevated, are expected to rise further as ranchers cull herds due to pasture failures.
00:51Every dollar increase in drought-related agricultural losses ripples into American grocery store prices within weeks.
00:59And the drought is not only an agricultural story, it is a wildfire story.
01:04Dry, parched vegetation across the plains provides fuel for fast-moving fires that kill livestock, burn homes,
01:10and threaten rural communities with almost no warning.
01:14With summer heat building and no significant rain forecast for the region,
01:18the cost of this drought is only beginning to be counted.
01:22The cost of this drought is only beginning to be counted.
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