Individual and Institutional Responses to the Drought: the Case of California Agriculture

Drought is one of the biggest and devastating events that mankind has witnessed throughout the world. The determination of the drought onset or end, as well as its severity, is difficult. It is a gradual phenomenon, its impact can, nevertheless, be devastating. The drought’s impacts are dependent not only on the duration, intensity, and geographical extent, but also on the demands by human activities, flexibility of the region's water storage and supply, and the institutions of the delivery system. They evolve over time and are influenced by the interactions between supply and demand. Drought events and adaptation throughout the world have been documented in Yevjevich et al. (1983), Wilhite et al. (1987), and Wilhite (1993).