ABSTRACT
This chapter examines farmers' perceptions of drought in the Ogallala Aquifer region of the western US Great Plains. It presents the perceptions of drought held by farmers in the Ogallala Aquifer region of the western US Great Plains, based on interviews of farmers during the spring of 1985. In the northernmost county, farmers had experienced little aquifer depletion at the time of the study, but in the southern counties, especially in Swisher County, Texas, and Finney County, Kansas, aquifer depletion was seriously affecting farming operations. The farmers' expectations of future droughts were related to their definitions of drought and to their farming locations. Farmers remembered the most recent drought, the most severe droughts, and to some extent the "drought of primacy". Younger farmers, lacking experience of really extreme drought, feel they have drought pretty well in hand, that innovative farming practices will pull them through.
