ORWELL — Jesse Wilbur, owner of Lazy Dog Farm, stood among his cows out in the dry pasture with U.S. Sen. Peter Welch, D-Vt., on Friday morning. Wilbur pointed to brown cracks in the soil, where he said he stuck his hand a foot deep a day before.

Wilbur, in his dusted farm pants, picked up a clump of stiff grass, yellow around the edges, and put it in Welch’s hand.

“Now, is that a piece of lettuce that you’d want to eat?” Wilbur asked.

Welch had gathered with a handful of neighboring farmers at Wilbur’s farm in Addison County to reflect on how Vermont’s historic drought is stressing the state’s farmers.

Drought conditions have stunted Wilbur’s feed production on his dairy farm and stressed him financially. And Wilbur is just one of many farmers feeling the drought’s effects.

On the

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