The ground is dry and cracked in spots. Patches of grass are turning brown. "I tell everybody that this is the driest place in the state," says Joey Benningfield, who operates a farm on Taylor County's West Finley Ridge with his father, Glenn, and grandfather, "Boss." Since June 1, Benningfield said, his land has received about 2 inches of rain. And it shows in his fields of corn, soybeans and tobacco. The family's beef cattle operation is suffering, too, he said.
