About

I am an applied microeconomist whose research bridges environmental and agricultural economics, geography, and remote sensing. I study how producers, firms, and regulators respond to risk and information, with the goal of improving the design of policies and programs for public benefit. My current work focuses on the design and evaluation of agricultural index insurance programs; how insurance enrollment responds to past weather, realized payouts, and seasonal forecasts; the impacts of programs that incentivize conservation practice adoption; and how firms respond to information about regulatory compliance risk.

Institutionally, I’m an Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech in the Agricultural and Applied Economics Department. I’m also a faculty affiliate of the VT Remote Sensing Graduate Education Group, the Global Change Center, and the Stanford RegLab. I co-lead the Agricultural Insurance & Finance impact area for NASA Harvest, a consortium for monitoring global food production with Earth Observations.

Previously, I was a postdoc in the Markets, Risk, and Resilience (MRR) Innovation Lab in the Agricultural and Resource Economics department at UC Davis, following my Ph.D. from the Emmett Interdisciplinary Program in Environment and Resources (E-IPER) at Stanford. Before grad school I was a research analyst at Climate Policy Initiative, after studying economics and environmental science at UNC-Chapel Hill.

Full CV linked here

News & announcements

Publications

1. Kirchner, E.*, Benami, E.*, Hobbs, A.W., Carter, M.R., Jin, Z. (2026). "Get in the Zone: The Risk-Adjusted Welfare Effects of Using Machine Learning vs. Administrative Borders to Define Agricultural Index Insurance Zones." Journal of Development Economics. *Joint first authors.
2. Benami, E., Carroll, A., Messer, K.D., Zhang, W., Cecil, M. (2025). "Seeding change: Growing insights from four programs to support climate-resilient soil and water conservation in US agriculture." Agricultural Economics 56(3): 457-473. [link]
3. Saunders, A., Tellman, B., Benami, E., Anchukaitis, K., Bennett, A., Hossain, S., Islam, A.K.M.S., Giezendanner, J. (2025). "Sensitivity to Data Choice Across Scales for Index-Based Flood Insurance." Earth's Future. [link]
4. Benami, E., Ramanujan, R., Cecil, M. (2025). "Rain Check: Examining How Fine-Scale Precipitation Data Affects Payouts in a U.S. Weather Index Insurance Program." Agricultural and Resource Economics Review. [link]
5. Lin, C., Zhou, J., Yin, L., Bouabid, R., Mulla, D., Benami, E., Jin, Z. (2024). "Sub-National Scale Mapping of Individual Olive Trees Integrating Earth Observation and Deep Learning." ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing. [link]
6. Fisher, C., Benami, E., Dolk, E., Baldwin, J., Becker-Reshef, I., Cuppari, R.I., Dalhaus, T., Hobbs, A., Leckebusch, G., Lacovara, P., Sobel, A.H., Tellman, B. (2024). "Bridging Science and Practice to En(in)sure Resilience in a Changing Climate." Journal of Catastrophe Risk and Resilience. [link]
7. Benami, E., Carter, M.R. (2021). "Can Digital Technologies Reshape Rural Finance? Implications for Credit, Insurance, and Saving." Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy. [link]
8. Benami, E.*, Jin, Z.*, Carter, M.R., Kenduiywo, B., Ghosh, A., Hobbs, A.W., Hijmans, R., Lobell, D. (2021). "Uniting Advances in Remote Sensing, Crop Modeling, and Economics for Agricultural Risk Management." Nature Reviews Earth & Environment. *Joint first authors. [link]
9. Benami, E., Whitaker, R., Anderson, B., Ho, D.E., La, V., Lin, H. (2021). "The Distributive Effects of Risk Prediction in Environmental Compliance: Algorithmic Design, Environmental Justice, and Public Policy." Proceedings of the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT). [link]
10. Hino, M.*, Benami, E.*, Brooks, N. (2018). "Machine Learning for Environmental Monitoring." Nature Sustainability. *Joint first authors. [link]
11. Benami, E., Curran, L.M., Cochrane, M., Venturieri, A., Swartos, A., Moraes Franco, R., Kneipp, J. (2018). "Oil Palm Land Conversion in Pará, Brazil, 2006-2014: Evaluating the 2010 Brazilian Sustainable Palm Oil Production Program." Environmental Research Letters. 13(3): 1-12. [link]
12. Carley, S., Lawrence, S., Brown, A., Nourafshan, A., Benami, E. (2010). "Energy-Based Economic Development." Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 15(1): 282-295.

Working papers

1. Benami, E., Jo, N., Ragnauth, B., Ho, D.E. (conditionally accepted). "Drop a Line, Submit on Time? Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial on the Effect of Pre-Deadline Reminders on Pollution Discharge Reporting." Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists. [link]
2. Michler, J.D., Josephson, A., Benami, E., Behrer, P., Cecil, M.J., Gourlay, S., Heilmayr, R., Kirchner, E., Maskell, G., Singh, K. (accepted, in copy-editing). "Treatment Geometry: Design Choices for Integrating Earth Observation and Socioeconomic Data." In Geospatial Impact Evaluation in Practice (eds. A. BenYishay & K. Singh).
3. Benami, E., Cecil, M., Josephson, A., Maskell, G., Michler, J. (accepted, in copy-editing). "Integrating Weather and Land Cover Data into Geospatial Impact Evaluations." In Geospatial Impact Evaluation in Practice (eds. A. BenYishay & K. Singh).
4. D'Agostino, A., Usmani, F., Benami, E. (accepted, in copy-editing). "Causal Inference and Counterfactuals in Earth Observation Research." In Geospatial Impact Evaluation in Practice (eds. A. BenYishay & K. Singh).
5. Carroll, A., Benami, E., Cecil, M.J. (in prep). "Forecasts and Adverse Selection in Index Insurance."
6. Cecil, M.J., Benami, E., Carroll, A., Yu, J., Ifft, J. (in prep). "Rainfall Index Insurance Under Exceptional Drought: Payout Alignment and Producer Response."
7. Benami, E., Bovay, J., Zhang, W., Ta, C. (in prep). "How and Where Do Financial Incentives Promote Adoption of Conservation (Regenerative) Agricultural Practices? A $54 Million Experiment Among US Producers." [Preanalysis plan in prep for the AEA RCT Registry]
8. Poghosyan, A., Benami, E., Brunelin, S., Ng, O. (in prep). "Measures and Mediators of Drought-Related Household Vulnerability to Poverty in Niger."
9. Benami, E., Becker-Reshef, I., Kirchner, E., Cecil, M.J., Chautems, M. (in prep). "Opportunities for EO to Help Derisk the Transition to Sustainable Agricultural Systems."

Reports & other publications

1. Becker-Reshef, I., Whitcraft, A., Justice, C., Benami, E., Humber, M., Rejesus, R. (2026). Public Comment in Response to USDA Request for Information on Opportunities, Challenges, and Emerging Areas in Statistical Data, Analysis, and Research, with NASA Harvest/Acres. [link]
2. Rodolfa, K., Ho, D.E., Honigsberg, C., Benami, E. (2023). Public Comment on U.S. EPA's Draft National Enforcement and Compliance Initiatives for Fiscal Years 2024-2027. [link] [pdf]
3. Benami, E., Ho, D.E., McDonough, A. (2020). "Innovations for Environmental Compliance: Emerging Evidence and Opportunities." Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research Policy Brief. [link]
4. Zuckerman, J., Deason, J., Benami, E. (2013). "Targeting Proposition 39 to Help California's Schools Save Energy and Money." Climate Policy Initiative.
5. Pierpont, B., Varadarajan, U., Hobbs, A., Benami, E. (2013). "Improving Solar Policy: Lessons from the Solar Leasing Boom in California." Climate Policy Initiative.

Teaching

Full course descriptions, syllabi, and guidance for students (including requesting reference letters) are on my Teaching & Mentoring page.

• Remote Sensing in the Social Sciences — graduate course, instructor of record (Fall 2021, 2022, 2024, 2026). How remotely sensed data is and can be appropriately used in social science research, with a focus on readings in environment, agriculture, and economic development and hands-on lab exercises with cloud-based geospatial platforms.
• Climate Risk Management — upper-level undergraduate course, instructor of record (Fall 2023). The science and economics of extreme weather and climate change; how we detect shifting weather patterns, their implications for society, and policy options to manage the risks.
• Environmental & Sustainable Development Economics — undergraduate course, instructor of record (Spring 2021, 2022, 2027). How approaches from economics can help society weigh policy questions relating to pollution and sustainable development; how environmental problems and policies vary between developing and developed country contexts.

Prior experience

• The Economics of Index Insurance — co-instructor, short course for remote-sensing specialists (Nairobi, Kenya, Summer 2019). An applied short course on the design, pricing, and evaluation of agricultural index insurance for managing risk - for pracitioners.
• World Food Economy (ECON/ESS 106/206) — teaching assistant, Stanford University (undergraduate and graduate). The economics of global food production, agricultural markets, hunger, and food and environmental policy.
• Environmental Governance (ENVRES 250) — teaching assistant, Stanford University (undergraduate). Seminar on governing shared, common-pool resources (fisheries, forests, and water), and the human behaviors and institutions that shape environmental outcomes in socio-environmental systems.
• Energy in Transition: De-Carbonizing America — teaching assistant, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (honors undergraduate seminar). The policies, technologies, and economics of the U.S. transition to lower-carbon energy.

HECTARE Lab

The HECTARE Lab (Human Environment CompuTing and Agricultural Research Lab) brings together students and scholars engaged at the intersection of economics, computer science, and environmental/geo- science. We meet ~weekly during the academic year to present and get feedback on ongoing research as well as discuss issues and skills of common interest.

Postdoctoral scholars

• Ella Kirchner — VT Agricultural & Applied Economics; VT Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow / NASA Harvest (2024–2026). Starting August 2026 as an Assistant Professor in Business Economics at Wageningen University.
• Michael J. Cecil — University of Maryland, Geographical Sciences / NASA Harvest (2024–present)

Graduate students

• Anne Bell Carroll — PhD, Agricultural & Applied Economics (expected ~2029)
• Alex Saunders — PhD, Geography, Development & Environment, University of Arizona (expected ~2027)
• Ivy (Shengke) Wang — PhD, Agricultural & Applied Economics (expected ~2031)

Additional Advisees:

• Matthew Mair — PhD, Agricultural & Applied Economics (expected May 2028)
• Yi-Tien Lu — PhD, Agricultural & Applied Economics (expected May 2029)
• Nitheshnirmal Sadhasivam — PhD, Geosciences (expected ~2027)

Alumni/ae

Current and former advisees, as well as their last known coordinates, include:

• Yuetong Zhang — PhD, Agricultural & Applied Economics, 2025 (committee): postdoc, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Department of Public Policy, Data-Driven Envirolab website
• Armine Poghosyan — PhD, Agricultural & Applied Economics, 2024 (co-advised): assistant professor, Tennessee State University website
• Ramaraja Ramanujan — MS, Computer Science, 2024 (co-advised): Microsoft website
• Kristen Swedberg — PhD, Agricultural & Applied Economics, 2024 (committee): PRODiG+ Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Public Administration and Policy at Binghamton University website
• Maguette Sembene — MS, Agricultural & Applied Economics, 2023 (committee): PhD Student, Virginia Tech Agricultural & Applied Economics
• Riley Rudd — Data Science for the Public Good mentee & Undergrad Research Assistant: Data Engineer, MITRE website
• Ari Liverpool — Undergrad Research Assistant: Business Analyst, Capital One website