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CBEAR Agri-Environmental
Achievement Awards

The annual CBEAR Prize for Agri-Environmental Innovation goes to leaders who foster the development of evidence-based policy design at the intersection of agriculture and the environment.

Awards Ceremony

WE RECOGNIZE LEADERS

Recognizing Extraordinary Contributions to Sustainable Agriculture Research

As a USDA Center of Excellence, our national fellows acknowledge those who are also trailblazers in the agri-environment world.  In 2015, we established the Innovation Award for organizations that make extraordinary contributions to sustainable agriculture practices. 

 

Presented annually, the Innovation Award highlights mid-career scientists at institutions working in the scientific fields applicable to conservation agriculture, including plant and animal sciences, nutrition and food science, soil science, entomology, and agricultural economics.

 

USDA ERS

The Center for Behavioral & Experimental Agri-Environmental Research honored Dr. Robbin Shoemaker and Dr. Daniel Hellerstein with the 2024 CBEAR Prize. Both esteemed recipients have been former employees at the USDA and were recognized for their exceptional contributions to utilizing behavioral sciences and experimental design to enhance agricultural and environmental programs.

2024 Award Recipient

Past Award Recipients

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Visit Field to Market's website for more information on their mission and research objectives.

2023 RECIPIENT

Field to Market

Field to Market: The Alliance for Sustainable Agriculture brings together a diverse group of grower organizations, agribusinesses, food, beverage, apparel, restaurant and retail companies, conservation groups, universities, and public sector partners to define, measure and advance the sustainability of food, feed, fiber, and fuel production in the United States. By uniting the agricultural supply chain and key stakeholders around a common measurement framework, Field to Market seeks to drive continuous improvement in the sustainability of commodity crop production.

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Visit REECAP's website for more information on their mission and research objectives.

2022 RECIPIENT

REECAP

The Center for Behavioral & Experimental Agri-Environmental Research is excited to award the CBEAR Prize to the Research Network on Economic Experiments for the Common Agricultural Policy (REECAP) for their leadership bringing together researchers, evaluators and policy makers interested in the use of economic experimental approaches for more evidence-based policy design and evaluation.

We would like to specifically recognize to the following 2021 REECAP  Board of Directors recipients:​

Jens Rommel

Jesus Barreiro-Hurlé

Liesbeth Colen

Laure Kuhfuss

Marianne Lefebvre

Tanja Šumrada

Fabian Thomas

Sophie Thoyer

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Dr. Weinberg's award ceremony is available to view on CBEAR's official Youtube Channel.

2020 RECIPIENT

Dr. Marca Weinberg​

The 2020 CBEAR Prize for Agri-Environmental Innovation was awarded to Dr. Marca Weinberg, USDA Economic Research

Service (ERS).

 

Alongside her outstanding leadership record at the USDA ERS, Dr. Weinberg has an impressive publication record addressing policy development. Since completing a PhD at the University of California, Davis, Dr. Weinberg has held many leadership positions, including serving as Acting Administrator (2019-2020) and Resource and Rural Economics Division (RRED) Director (2012-2019), as Associate Director for RRED, and Chief of the Division’s Resource, Environmental, and Science Policy Branch. Prior positions include Assistant Professor, University of California, Davis, and economist with the Congressional Budget Office. She has incorporated and celebrated the use of behavioral insights throughout her career. During her 23 years with the ERS she has promoted the use of evidence from economic experiments to improve agri-environmental programs. Upon accepting the award, Dr. Weinberg encouraged CBEAR and ERS colleagues to continue their high impact collaborations with program agencies to advance the evidence-based approaches to agri-environmental programs.

“The selection committee chose Dr. Weinberg for this recognition because she demonstrates extraordinary leadership in advancing research that quantifies benefits from USDA agri-environmental programs, ultimately improving policy and conservation efforts.”

Dr. Kent Messer

CBEAR Co-Director

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2019 Innovation Award | The Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking, accepted by Dr. Katharine Abraham and

Dr. Ron Haskins

2019 RECIPIENT

The Commission on Evidence-Based Policymaking

“While the Commission has completed their charge, their impact is long-lasting. CBEAR has used and appreciated the insights from their final report.”
 

Dr. Kent Messer

CBEAR Co-Director

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2018 Recipient Sheila Reddy, Associate Director of Strategic Initiatives, The Nature Conservancy.

2018 RECIPIENT

Dr. Sheila Reddy

“At its core, conservation is about people’s actions and decisions. Now more than ever, success depends on finding ways to help people overcome barriers to conservation.”
 

Dr. Kent Messer

CBEAR Co-Director

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2017 Recipient Jeremy Peters, Chief Executive Officer, National Association of Conservation Districts

2017 RECIPIENT

Jeremy Peters

“The team at CBEAR understands that truly engaging America’s landowners is the key to continued improvements in soil health, water conservation and sustainable management of our natural resources.”
 

Dr. Kent Messer

CBEAR Co-Director

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2016 Recipient Jason Weller, Former Chief, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

2016 RECIPIENT

Jason Weller

“[CBEAR is] helping us think outside the box, be creative, be innovative, but also help us better communicate what it is we do, to ultimately help us better incentivize good solutions on the land.”

Dr. Kent Messer

CBEAR Co-Director

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The Center of Behavioral & Experimental Agri-Environmental Research (CBEAR) is a global community of scientists studying what leads to the adoption and persistence of conservation most effectively.  We also test to determine whether simpler application processes can deliver higher levels of program participation and landowner satisfaction. 

 

© 2026 The Center for Behavioral and Experimental Agri-Environmental Research (CBEAR) is a USDA Center of Excellence.

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