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Who Funds Us
Our grant providers help advance science-based conservation into action. That's why who funds us says a lot about who we are and the impact we have in agriculture and
the environment.
OUR FUNDING PROVIDERS
Across Rows. Across Sections. Across Aisles.
We coordinate with program administrators and policy makers to incorporate behavioral insights and experimental designs into emerging and existing agri-environmental programs. By plugging directly into these programs, we identify how applications of behavioral science can be used to improve agri-environmental programs.
DOING MORE WITH LESS
Why Funding Matters
Technical assistance is usually the first step in a farmer's efforts to plan for conservation practices. And it is integral to the
follow-up steps needed to implement and maintain any pollution reduction practice or structure.
Conservation on private farmlands in the US is largely encouraged via a patchwork of voluntary incentive programs implemented by federal and state agencies,
as well as nongovernmental organizations and private
sector actors.
Similar programs exist in the EU. Billions of dollars are invested in these programs each year. Building on insights from the behavioral sciences, CBEAR tests innovative ideas to make these programs more cost-effective.
Grants & Projects
Walton Family Foundation
2026-2029. “Overcoming the Sludge and Enhancing Conservation Technical Assistance through Embedded Behavioral Science.” $500,000. PI: K. Messer, co-PIs: C. Bergthold, L. Cartwright, E. Herbert, M. Masters, and C. McLeland.
2023-2025. “Addressing the Challenges of the New Federal Funding for
Conservation: Empowering Citizen Science and Testing the Cost-Effectiveness of Financial Incentive Schemes versus Technical Assistance to Improve Sustained Conservation Outcomes for
NRCS programs.” $150,000. (#110121). K.D. Messer (PI), P. Feldman and D. Ganguly (co-PIs).
National NSF EPSCoR
National NSF EPSCoR. 2025-2029. “E-RISE RII: An Investigation of Saltwater Intrusion in the Complex Coastal Environment of Delaware.” (aka WiCCED Salt) $7,000,000. (#2446056).
PI: K. Messer, Co-PIs: H. Michael, L. Palm-Forster, G. Ozbay, and A. Todd.
National Science Foundation – funding support from EPSCoR Track-I. 2018-2024. “RII Track-1: Water in the Changing Coastal Environment in Delaware (Project WiCCED).” $23,040,000. (#1757353) K.D.
Messer (PI), H. Michael, D.L. Sparks, V. Kalavacharla, and M. D’Souza (co-PIs).
USDA Economic Research Service
USDA Economic Research Service. 2024-2025. “Center for Behavioral and Experimental Agri-Environmental Research (CBEAR).” $50,000. (#59-1000-4-0058). K.D. Messer (PI), M. Masters (co-PI).
U.S Army Corp of Engineers
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Research and Development Center (ERDC). 2024-2027. “Ecosystem Services Evaluation and Decision Research and Development.” $1,500,000. M. Kecinski (PI), M. Heintzelman
and K.D. Messer (Co-PIs).
USDA NRCS
USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service – Georgia. 2024-2026. “Embedding Behavioral Science and Economic Experiments in Georgia’s Conservation Efforts.” $150,000. M. Masters (PI). K.D. Messer (co-PI).
Environmental Protection Agency
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Environmental Protection Agency. 2024-2025. “Improving Rural Development: Addressing Concerns of PFAS, Nitrates, and Emerging Pollutants.” $120,000. K. Messer (PI), D. Ganguly, M. Heintzelman, and M. Kecinski (Co-PIs).
USDA -- National Institute for Food and Agriculture.
USDA -- National Institute for Food and Agriculture. 2023-2026. “Beyond Adoption: Theory and Empirics to Predict and Understand the Sustained Use of Cover Crops by Agricultural Producers.”
$650,000. P. Ferraro (PI), K.D. Messer, J. Gao, and L. Prokopy (co-PIs).
USDA -- Farm Service Agency
USDA – Farm Service Agency. 2023-2026. “Empowering Citizen Science via the Optimization of Financial Incentive Schemes and Technical Assistance to Improve Conservation Outcomes in the Conservation Reserve Program.” $500,000. P. Feldman (PI), K.D. Messer and L. Xie (co-PIs).
NSF - Human Environment and Geographical Sciences Program
National Science Foundation – Human-Environment and Geographical Sciences program. 2021-2023. “Persistence of Field-scale Sustainable Agricultural Land Use Practices in Large-scale Landscape Evolution: A Data-driven Investigation.” $385,248. (#2117722) J. Gao (PI), K.D. Messer, P. Ferraro, L. Paul (co-PIs).
USDA Office of Environmental Markets
USDA Office of Environmental Markets. 2018-2019. “Expanding Opportunities for Improved Agricultural Water Use Data through the Agricultural Data Reporting Incentive Program (AgDRIP).” $130,000. M. Masters (PI), K.D. Messer, P. Ferraro, and J. Suter (co-PIs).
USDA NIFA AFRI Foundational
Project Center for Behavioral and Experimental Economics for Agri-Environmental and Risk Management Policy Research (CBEAR)
Year Awarded 2019
Project Description
The Center for Behavioral & Experimental Agri-Environmental Research (CBEAR) was established in 2014 to develop evidence based policy relevant to voluntary agri-environmental programs, conduct behavioral economics research, expand and enhance the human capital of scholars and practitioners for generating high-quality evidence about improving agricultural programs and to help design better agri-environmental programs.
USDA NIFA Agriculture and Food Research Initiative
Project Applying Defaults in the Conservation Reserve Program:
An Experimental Approach
Year Awarded 2017
Project Description
This project tests the role of defaults (a type of nudge) on landowner behavior in the USDA's Conservation Reserve Program.
USDA Economic Research Service
Project The Persistence of Cover Cropping in the U.S.
Year Awarded 2021
Project Description
This Cooperative Agreement with the USDA's Economic Research Services helps develop USDA datasets of US farmers to allow a joint investigation of what leads to the adoption and persistence of the use of cover crops. It also involves assistance with writing a Congressional Report on the use of cover crops as a manner to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
National Science Foundation
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Project Persistence of Field Scale Sustainable Agricultural Land Use Practices in large-Scale Landscape Evolution: A Data-driven Investigation
Year Awarded 2021
Project Description
This project uses USDA administrative data and data science techniques to examine what leads to the persistence of cover crops.
Robert W. Woodruff Foundation
Project Using Experimental Economics to Inform Incentive Programs to Reduce Irrigation Water Use to Protect Engendered Species in the Ichawaynochaway Basin, Georgia
Year Awarded 2021
Project Description
This project will use economic experiments to test the effectiveness of various auction mechanisms and selection methods that could improve water buyback programs in Georgia to protect endangered species.