The drought had a negative impact on corn in Le Roy, Illinois. Drought occurred in six Plains states between last May and August because moist Gulf of Mexico air "failed to stream northward in late spring," and summer storms were few and stingy with rainfall, said a report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
(CNN) -- The U.S. Agriculture Department cited drought and heat on Wednesday in designating 597 counties in 14 states as primary natural disaster areas.
"As drought persists, USDA will continue to partner with producers to see them through longer-term recovery, while taking the swift actions needed to help farmers and ranchers prepare their land and operations for the upcoming planting season," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.
The designations make qualified farmers in the areas eligible for low-interest loans, the agency said.
Affected counties have suffered severe drought for eight consecutive weeks, which qualified them for the automatic designation.
Richard Oswald, a 62-year-old farmer in Missouri's Atchison County, said he has been hit hard by the drought but was not sure whether he would take advantage of the drought designation for his county by getting a low-interest loan.
"The hay situation is not good; the pastures burned up early because of the heat and lack of rain," said Oswald, who was born on a farm and has been farming since he was a teenager. "This is the worst drought that I have ever seen. An emergency loan is great, but it's still borrowed money, and as a farmer, that's not good because you have to pay it back."
Chad Breiner of Wabaunsee County, Kansas, said the drought has affected his bull-selling business because he uses grass for feed and has to buy hay.
"The fact that it hasn't rained significantly since June is going to make 2013 look rather bleak because the ponds are low, the creeks are low, and without adequate moisture in the next few months when grazing comes up, our production is going to be significantly less than normal," he said.
Last year, the USDA designated 2,245 counties in 39 states, or 71 percent of the United States, as disaster areas due to drought.
Wednesday's announcement comes a day after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said that 2012 had been the hottest year on record for the continental United States and the second-worst for "extreme" weather such as hurricanes, droughts or floods.
The year's average temperature of 55.3 degrees Fahrenheit across the "Lower 48" was more than 3.2 degrees warmer than the average for the 20th century, NOAA reported. That topped the previous record, set in 1998, by a full degree.
Drought shriveled crops across the farm belt, leading to an expected rise in food prices in 2013, according to USDA. It also turned forests of the mountain West into tinder stands that exploded into wildfires over the summer, scorching millions of acres and destroying hundreds of homes.
Seven of the 10 hottest years on U.S. record, which date to 1895, and four of the hottest five have occurred since 1990, according to NOAA.
Rough winter weather hits Middle East
The year also saw Arctic sea ice hit a record low in more than 30 years of satellite observations and studies that found the world's major ice sheets have been shrinking at an increasing rate.
Scientists are quick to point out that no single storm can be blamed on climate change, but say a warming world raises the odds of extreme weather.
"I think, unfortunately, 2012 really may well be the new normal," said Daniel Lashof, director of the climate and clean air program at the Natural Resources Defense Council, a U.S. environmental group. "It's the kind of year we expect, given the global warming trend is ongoing."
The science of global warming is politically controversial but generally accepted as fact by most researchers, who point to heat-trapping carbon emissions from the burning of fossil fuels as the major cause.
CNN's Matt Smith and Carma Hassan contributed to this report.
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A calf strains for mother's milk as they forage amid dry wheat husks on the Becker farm August 24 in Logan, Kansas.
Farmer Darren Becker sifts through arid topsoil under a ruined crop on the family farm on August 24 in Logan, Kansas.
Rancher Gary Wollert pauses before heading out for work on August 23 near Eads, Colorado. The nation's severe drought has been especially hard on cattlemen. Much of eastern Colorado and virtually all of Nebraska and Kansas are still in extreme or exceptional drought, according to the University of Nebraska's Drought Monitor.
A billboard, "Jesus in the Wheat," stands alongside Interstate 70 on August 24 in Colby, Kansas. The billboard was erected by local residents Tuffy and Linda Taylor. "We just put it up there to minister," Linda Taylor told the Hays Daily News.
A boat dock is left high and dry at the Morse Reservoir in Noblesville, Indiana, on August 16, where water depths are significantly lower than average because of a widespread drought.
Fish remains bake in the heat in an area that is usually underwater at the Morse Reservoir in Indiana.
President Obama inspects a drought-stricken area of Missouri Valley, Iowa, with corn farmer Roger McIntosh on August 13 as he campaigns in the area. Since mid-June, corn prices have risen about 60% because of declining crop yields.
Heat and drought have destroyed corn yields.
A car kicks up dust as it drives by corn fields on dry dirt road in State Center, Iowa.
Jeremy Tilton adds hay to a feed mixer for cattle he raises on pastureland near Cuba, Illinois.
A tractor cuts down corn in a field designated as zero-yield on a farm in Vigo County, Indiana, on Tuesday, July 31. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has declared more than half the counties in the country natural disaster areas as drought sears millions of acres of pasture and cropland.
A field of dead corn sits next to the Lincolnland Agri-Energy ethanol plant in Palestine, Illinois, on Wednesday, July 25.
An employee stocks dairy products at a supermarket in New York on Wednesday, July 25. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said prices of dairy products like cheese, milk and eggs are expected to rise 2% to 3% because of the drought.
Corn stalks struggle to survive in a drought-stricken farm field on Thursday, July 19, near Oakton, Indiana. The corn and soybean belt in the middle of the nation is experiencing one of the worst droughts in more than five decades.
A field of corn shows the effects of the drought on a farm near Fritchton, Indiana, on Wednesday, July 17.
Farmer Ed Schoenberg and his son harvest oats early in attempt to salvage their drought damaged crop near Burlington, Wisconsin, on July 17.
Corn is watered with an irrigation system near Fritchton, Indiana, on July 17.
A single stalk of corn grows in a drought-stricken field near Shawneetown, Illinois, on July 16.
Brown and dry, a field of corn sturggles to survive drought conditions near Uniontown, Kentucky, on July 16.
Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn examines a drought-damaged ear of corn near Waltonville, Illinois, on July 16.
A weed grows thorugh the dried and cracked earth where a pond used to br near Ashley, Illinois, on July 16.
Farmer Marion Kujawa looks over a dried-up pond where his cattle used to water, near Ashley, Illinois, on July 16. Kujawa is digging the pond deeper so that the water will last longer in the future.
Farmer Albert Walsh walks through his drought-damaged corn field in Carmi, Illnois, on July 11.
The drought plaguing the Midwest has taken a harsh toll on America's corn crops, such as this one in Grayville, Illinois.
Swimmers relax in the shallow waters of the Mississippi River at Meeman-Shelby Forest State Park in Tennessee on July 6. Drought conditions have lowered the river's levels considerably from this time last year.
Fish skeletons line the bottom of a drainage ditch in Skelton, Indiana, on July 12.
Soybean seedlings push their way through dry soil in Skelton, Indiana, on July 12.
Cattle graze in a field on July 13 near Paris, Missouri. Many ranchers are rushing to sell off their herds as hay supplies dwindle and feed prices soar.
Cracked, dry ground marks the area where a pond normally stands in Crossville, Illinois, on July 11.
Brown corn stalks stand in a drought-stricken field on July 11 in Carmi, Illinois.
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