The Peroxisomal 3-keto-acyl-CoA thiolase B Gene Expression Is under the Dual Control of PPARα and HNF4α in the Liver

PPARα and HNF4α are nuclear receptors that control gene transcription by direct binding to specific nucleotide sequences. Using transgenic mice deficient for either PPARα or HNF4α, we show that the expression of the peroxisomal 3-keto-acyl-CoA thiolase B (Thb) is under the dependence of these two transcription factors. Transactivation and gel shift experiments identified a novel PPAR response element within intron 3 of the Thb gene, by which PPARα but not HNF4α transactivates. Intriguingly, we found that HNF4α enhanced PPARα/RXRα transactivation from TB PPRE3 in a DNA-binding independent manner. Coimmunoprecipitation assays supported the hypothesis that HNF4α was physically interacting with RXRα. RT-PCR performed with RNA from liver-specific HNF4α-null mice confirmed the involvement of HNF4α in the PPARα-regulated induction of Thb by Wy14,643. Overall, we conclude that HNF4α enhances the PPARα-mediated activation of Thb gene expression in part through interaction with the obligate PPARα partner, RXRα

Drivers of low-input farmers’ perceptions of sustainable ruminant farming practices in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Resolution of the existing disconnect between experts and farmers’ insights on sustainable farming requires understanding of the key factors driving farmers’ perceptions on the concept. Interviews were conducted with 160 low-input farmers to evaluate the drivers of their perceptions of sustainable ruminant farming practices in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa. It was found that farmers had negative perceptions on rangeland, breeding, livestock security and marketing management practices and positive perceptions on socio-cultural, family health and education practices. The major factors that influenced farmers’ perceptions of sustainable ruminant farming practices include location, age, gender and employment status. Males farming full-time in peri-urban areas were more likely to perceive decreases (p ≤ 0.05) while the young farmers had greater probability to perceive increases (p ≤ 0.05) in ecologically related ruminant farming practices. Married, more educated males farming full-time in rural areas were more likely to perceive decreases (p ≤ 0.05) in economically related ruminant farming practices compared to their counterparts. Young males farming full-time had greater probability to perceive decreases (p ≤ 0.05), whereas rural farmers were more likely to perceive increases (p ≤ 0.05) in socially related ruminant farming practices. These key drivers of farmer’s perceptions could be used to develop context-specific indicators for sustainability assessment and synchronise experts and farmers insights on sustainable ruminant farming.</p

Creating Conditions for Harnessing the Potential of Transitions to Agroecology in Europe and Requirements for Policy

Food systems require reorientation to take greater account of interactions with the environment, economy, health and society. Transitions to agroecological farming practices and systems can connect policy areas and realise environmental, economic and social aims. These transitions provide a lens for reviewing policy, practice and behaviours of actors in farming systems and value chains, identification of barriers to uptake, and policy areas to which they contribute or where there are gaps. Developing social and human capital, and governance structures that enable transitions to agroecology are key to their prospects of success. Education and life-long learning are key to developing the knowledge and skills of younger generations of land managers and other actors in value chains, throughout their careers. The outcome sought is for a shared understanding of the benefits of agroecological practices and systems, creating opportunities to rebalance policies towards delivering climate neutrality, reversing biodiversity loss, and enhancing rights of citizens. To realise those opportunities policies and strategies should be coherent across territorial and systems levels, and tailored to place, system, people, and stages of transitions. Overall, they should be designed to ensure all citizens are beneficiaries of transitions to agroecological farming systems, over the long term, and that no-one or place is disadvantaged by the processes of change or the outcome intended

Credit Market Imperfections and the Distribution of Policy Rents: The Common Agricultural Policy in the New EU Member States

This article analyses how credit market imperfections affect the impacts of subsidies by analyzing the effects of agricultural subsidies in the new Eastern Member States of the European Union with a partial equilibrium model which integrates credit and land market imperfections. We show that credit constraints have important implications for the distribution of policy rents. Credit market imperfections may induce very different effects of direct payments and lump-sum transfers

Static and Dynamic Distributional Effects of Decoupled Payments: Single Farm Payments in the European Union

This paper analyses the distributional effects of decoupled Single firm Payments (SFP) in the European Union. In a static world the SFP benefit only firmers, irrespective of the implemented SFP model and irrespective of whether entitlements are tradable or not, except when the size of the allocated entitlements is larger than the eligible area and/or if entrants are eligible for the SFP. Then the SFP gets either partially or fully capitalized into land values and landowners benefit. In a dynamic world the effects depend on the nature of structural change, on the tradability of entitlements, and on the implementation model