To meet the needs of a growing urban population in the arid Southwest, dairy farms are becoming increasingly urbanized. Dry-lot dairies efficiently house cattle in large shaded lots in arid regions where there is no grass for grazing. Visalia, California is at the center of the nation?s most productive agricultural county in terms of revenues. But because of its poor air quality and high unemployment, Visalia has also been named one of the worst places to live in America. Life magazine sent John Steinbeck to the area in 1938 to research an article on migrant farm workers that later became his famous novel, The Grapes of Wrath..