This same time two years ago, Sen. Lamar Alexander toured local farms and listened to the plight of farmers in the midst of the worst drought in more than a century.
The drought persisted for more than a year before beginning to ease up late last year.
But frequent rain showers and storms this spring have turned things around tremendously for local livestock and crop farmers.

"The hay is 100 percent better than the last two years," said Mark Houston, who runs the East Tennessee Livestock Center just north of Sweetwater.
Houston said many livestock owners have good hay crops for the first time in years.
He said reports are that corn and soybean crops are profiting from the rain as well.
According to Houston, prices for cattle are "decent," but at this point they are more affected by the poor economy than the weather.

Houston said many of the area's small cattle farmers got out of the business in the last couple of years when the drought hit so hard.
Many of them have not come back, he said.
Sometimes the frequent storms have made it difficult for farmers to get out to their fields, but when given a chance the strong June sun can dry things up pretty quickly, Houston said.

According to TVA lake basin rainfall totals, many areas in East Tennessee are at or above normal on rainfall totals for the first half of the year.
The persistent bout with storms and showers this week is expected to ease up a bit Friday, however it will be replaced with perhaps the hottest day of the year so far with an expected high in the upper 90s.

tommy.millsaps@advocateanddemocrat.com | 337-7101