The Thuenen Institute is the Federal Research Institute for Rural Areas, Forestry and Fisheries and one of four Germans federal research institutes under the auspices of the German Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). The Thuenen Institute drafts scientific decision-making tools for the policy of the German federal government and thus serves, with its application oriented and practice related research, for the development of the society of tomorrow. The Thuenen Institute comprises 14 institutes. The Thuenen Institute of Rural Studies (TI-LR) has a core competence in the analysis of impacts on agricultural land use and livestock production and the related environmental impacts on the socio-economic and political dimensions. In this field the Thuenen Institutes gained substantial expertise in several projects in the field of global (climate) change, bio-energy, farm level analysis, nutrient management and agricultural water protection. The scientists involved in the project proposal have broad experiences in agricultural and environmental economics, policy assessment and the development and use of mathematical models, and have been involved in numerous national and international projects.