Source: NC CLIMATE OFFICE, 4/13/22

How did the Environment and Climate Observing Network (ECONet) we know and love today get its start? Here, we explain that 40+ year history.

Early Days
What started in 1978 as the Agriculture Network (AgNet), quickly grew over time into the Environment and Climate Observing Network (ECONet) we know and love today. Figures 1 and 2 below show how the number of AgNet stations grew quickly from 1978 to 1987. The number of AgNet stations remained at 14 throughout the 1990s (Figure 2) and AgNet was officially merged into ECONet in 2001. AgNet data were originally used exclusively by the NC Agriculture Weather Program staff in the Department of Horticultural Science at NC State University to help agricultural producers manage their operations and prepare for weather events. Besides agricultural producers, ECONet data now “…benefit[s] emergency management, agriculture, transportation, economic development, education, public health, safety, insurance, damage assessment and prevention, drought mitigation to name a few” (Raman, 1998).

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