It is the mid-western states that have also seen drought conditions for many years. If you can’t properly water your crops, you won’t be seeing quality harvests in late summer and early fall. As with every other commodity, the rules of supply and demand come into play when shortages occur, thus the increase in prices for wheat and the products relying on wheat.
Since wheat is a major source of the feed we give our livestock, you are seeing significant increases in the cost for beef and pork
The challenge with droughts, you can’t just regulate a cure. For decades the water managers in all the states have planned for shortages and built dams to help provide a backup resource for agricultural water usage. In a drought, many of those lakes and reservoirs have become depleted and there isn’t enough water to go around for all the farmers needing it to grow crops and survive.
Most communities experiencing drought conditions are putting in place restrictions for your use of water, like watering lawns less frequently, watering during the night to limit evaporation, designing landscapes with more rocks and fewer plants, taking shorter showers, and more.