WALTONVILLE, Ill. — The nation's widest drought in decades is spreading, with more than half of the continental United States in some stage of drought and most of the rest enduring abnormally dry conditions.

In its monthly drought report, the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C., announced that 55 percent of the country was in a moderate to extreme drought at the end of June.

The percentage of affected land is the largest since December 1956, when 58 percent of the country was covered by drought, and it rivals even some years in the Dust Bowl era of the 1930s, although experts note that this year's weather has been milder than that period, and farming practices have been vastly improved since then.

There's little risk of a Dust Bowl-type catastrophe, but crop losses could mount if rain doesn't come soon.

The parched conditions expanded last month in the West, the Great Plains and the Midwest, fueled by the 14th warmest and 10th driest June on record, the report said.

Topsoil has turned dry while "crops, pastures and rangeland have deteriorated at a rate rarely seen in the last 18 years," the report said.

About one-third of the nation's corn crop has been hurt, with some of it damaged so badly that farmers have cut down their withered plants to feed to cattle. As of Sunday, the Department of Agriculture (USDA) said, 38 percent of the corn crop was in poor or very poor condition, compared with 30 percent a week earlier.

"This is definitely the epicenter — right in the heart of the Midwest," said climatologist Mark Svoboda, of the Nebraska-based National Drought Mitigation Center.

It's all a huge comedown for farmers who had expected a record year when they sowed 96.4 million acres in corn, the most since 1937. The USDA initially predicted national average corn yields of 166 bushels per acre this year.

The agency has revised that projection down to 146, and more reductions are possible if conditions don't improve.

Tight supplies and fears that the drought will worsen have been pushing up grain prices, which are likely to translate into higher food prices for consumers, particularly for meat and poultry.

Monday's report was based on data dating to 1895. The Palmer Drought Index feeds into the widely watched and more detailed U.S. Drought Monitor, which reported last week that 61 percent of the continental U.S. was in a moderate to exceptional drought. However, the weekly Drought Monitor goes back only 12 years, so climatologists use the Palmer Drought Index for comparing droughts before 2000.

Climatologists have labeled this year's dry spell a "flash drought" because it developed in a matter of months, not over multiple seasons or years.

The current drought is similar to the droughts of the 1950s, which weren't as intense as those of the 1930s, said Jake Crouch, a climatologist with the National Climatic Data Center. And farming has changed a lot since the Dust Bowl era. Better soil conservation has reduced erosion, and modern hybrids are much more resistant to drought.

But Crouch said it's important to understand this drought is still unfolding.

"We can't say with certainty how long this might last now," Crouch said. "Now that we're going up against the two largest droughts in history, that's something to be wary of. The coming months are really going to be the determining factor of how big a drought it ends up being."

In northwest Kansas, Brian Baalman's cattle pastures have dried up, along with probably half of his corn crop. He desperately needs rain to save the rest of it, and he's worried what will happen if the drought lingers into next year.

"I have never seen this type of weather before like this. A lot of old-timers haven't, either," Baalman said. "I just think we are seeing history in the making."

The federal government already is moving to help farmers and ranchers.

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack last week announced plans for streamlining the aid process. A major goal is to cut the time it takes to declare an agricultural disaster area. He also reduced interest rates for emergency loans and made it cheaper for farmers to graze livestock or cut hay on lands otherwise locked up in a conversation program.

Wisconsin declared a state of emergency in 42 counties last week to speed up the issuance of permits for temporarily using stream or lake water for irrigation.

During a visit Monday to a Southern Illinois corn and soybean farm, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn announced that farmers would be eligible for state debt restructuring and loan programs in addition to aid the USDA announced last week.

Quinn ventured into a cornfield where he spent some time looking for an ear of corn. When he found one and peeled off the husk, there were no kernels.

Two-thirds of Illinois is in what's classified as a severe drought or worse. Neighboring Indiana is even worse, with 70 percent in at least a severe drought.

Brummer typically could count on corn yields of 170 bushels per acre. He expects to get 10 this year, if he gets anything at all.

The top of the cornstalks are an unhealthy pale green, he said. Many have no ears, and "if there are there are a few kernels, they don't seem to know if they should die or make a grain."

Associated Press writer Roxana Hegeman contributed to this report.