Date of birth
April, 8th, 1976

Place of birth
Dessau, Germany

Undergraduate studies

• 1995-1999: Technical University Berlin, Landscape Planning
• 1999-2001: Wageningen University, The Netherlands (Master of Environmental Science)

Current position
Since 2005: Doctoral student (external) at Georg-August-University Göttingen.

Visiting scientist

• 2004: Policy Research Institute, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tokyo, Japan
• 2001: United Nations Institute for Technical Training and Research (UNITAR), Geneva, Switzerland
• 2000-2001: Leibniz-Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) Müncheberg, Institute of Land Use Systems and Landscape Ecology

Research interests

• Rural development policy
• Policy analysis and evaluation
• Structural change
• Agri-environment

Research project

• Impact of farm programmes on farm structure (doctoral thesis)
  The study focuses on the relationship between farm programmes and the structural development of farm enterprises in Germany. Farm programmes analysed are those in the Less Favoured Areas scheme and Agri-environment Programmes. Both schemes are core instruments of the rural development policy in the European Union. The objective of the study is to analyse the influence of these farm programmes on factor input (utilised agricultural area, grassland, capital, livestock, pesticides, fertilizer) and production (farm sales). The analysis is based upon bookkeeping data of the private company “Land-Data”(2000-2005), which includes approximately 20.000 farms in Germany over the course of 6 years. The empirical analysis is based upon parametric (e. g., panel data analysis) and non-parametric methods (propensity score matching). For results see publications below.
  
  
• Evaluation of Rural Development Plans (vTI)
  The evaluation of Rural Development Plans of the states Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia and Schleswig-Holstein has been a task of the vTI Institute of Rural Studies and affiliated partners since 2001 (2003: mid-term, 2005: up-date of mid-term, 2009: ex-post). The objective of the ongoing ex-post evaluation is to analyse the effects and the efficiency of public payments spent for rural development activities. Supported activities include, among others, the farm investment aid scheme, compensatory allowances in less favoured areas, agri-environment schemes, rural infrastructure construction and village renewal. My personal field of work included/s the evaluation of agri-environment programmes (Chapter 6) and the evaluation of the entire programme with respect to selected core objectives (e. g. employment and income effects of rural development measures) (Chapter 10).

Publications

• Berichte zur Expost-Bewertung von Programmen zur Entwicklung des Ländlichen Raumes gemäß 1257/1999 für Niedersachsen, Hamburg, Hessen, Bremen, Nordrhein-Westfalen und Schleswig-Holstein (German, English summary)


• PUFAHL, A., WEISS, C.R. (2009): Farm Structure and the Effects of Agri-Environmental Programs: Results from a Matching Analysis for European Countries, Paper contribution to the 111 EAAE-IAAE Seminar 'Small farms: decline or persistence', University of Kent, Canterbury, UK, 26th-27th June 2009


• PUFAHL, A., WEISS, C.R. (2009): Effekte agrarpolitischer Programme auf den betrieblichen Faktoreinsatz, in: Agrarwirtschaft (im Druck).


• PUFAHL, A. und WEISS, C.R. (2009): Evaluating the effects of farm programs: Results from propensity score matching, in: European Review of Agricultural Economics 36 (1), S. 79-101.


• PUFAHL, A. und WEISS, C.R. (2008): Evaluating the Effects of Farm Programs: Results from Propensity Score Matching, Accepted Paper, European Association of Agricultural Economists, 2008 International Congress, August 26-29, 2008, Ghent, Belgium.


• PUFAHL, A. und WEISS, C.R. (2008): Evaluating the effects of farm programs: Results from propensity score matching. Accepted paper at the 107th EAAE-Seminar, 29th January – 1st Februar 2008.


• PUFAHL, A. und WEISS, C.R. (2007): Evaluating the effects of farm programs: Results from propensity score matching. Working Paper No. 113, Vienna University of Economics & Business Administration, Stand 20.12.2007.


• PUFAHL, A., GRAJEWSKI, R. und FÄHRMANN, B. (2007): Who is benefitting from rural development policies? In: Petrick, M. und Buchenrieder, G. (Hrsg.): Sustainable and rural development: What is the role of the agri-food sector? Studies on the Agricultural and Food Sector in Central and Eastern Europe, H. 39. Halle (Saale), S. 258-273.


• PUFAHL, A., FÄHRMANN, B., GRAJEWSKI, R. (2006): Programme evaluation of rural development plans – purpose, approaches and exemplary results. Bergschmidt, A. (ed.): Proceedings of the European workshop on the evaluation of farm investment support, investment support for improvement of processing and marketing of agricultural products. Working papers in agricultural economics 2006/03. p. 15-25.


• Berichte zur Halbzeitbewertung und zur Aktualisierung der Halbzeitbewertung von Programmen zur Entwicklung des Ländlichen Raumes gemäß 1257/1999 für Niedersachsen, Hamburg, Hessen, Bremen, Nordrhein-Westfalen und Schleswig-Holstein (German, English summary)


• PUFAHL, A. (2004): Agri-environment programmes for landscape preservation? Eco-complexity and dynamics of the cultural landscape: Abstracts of the talks and posters presented at the 34th Annual Conference of the Ecological Society in Giessen, September 13th – 17th. Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft für Ökologie 34.


• PUFAHL, A. und SANDER, A. (2002): Politikbewertung zwischen Anspruch und Wirklichkeit. Methodische Ansätze zur Bewertung der Entwicklungspläne für den ländlichen Raum am Beispiel der Agrarumweltmaßnahmen. Verhandlungen der Gesellschaft für Ökologie 32.


• BALLA, S., BRAUNS, F., HERBERG, A., PUFAHL, A. und SCHKADE, M. (2000): Die Umsetzung von Kompensationssmaßnahmen der Eingriffsregelung in der Bauleitplanung. Natur und Landschaft 75 (4): 137-144.


• FIELITZ, C., FRITSCHE, D., GENSLER, K., HERBERG, A., HUTH, A., PUFAHL, A. und SCHKADE, M. (1999): Was wird am Ende umgesetzt? Die Bauleitplanung und der Ausgleich von Eingriffen in den Naturhaushalt und das Landschaftsbild. Berlin (TU Berlin, FG Landschaftsplanung, Landschaftspflege und Naturschutz). Arbeitsmaterialien zur Landschaftsplanung 8.

Work experience

• Since 2001: Johann Heinrich von Thünen-Institute (vTI), Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries, Institute of Rural Studies, Braunschweig
• 1998–1999: Research Assistance at the Technical University Berlin, Institute for Landscape Development

Languages

• Deutsch
• Englisch