We report genome-wide ancient DNA from 44 ancient Near Easterners ranging in time between ~12,000-1,400 BCE, from Natufian hunter-gatherers to Bronze Age farmers. We show that the earliest populations of the Near East derived around half their ancestry from a ‘Basal Eurasian’ lineage that had little if any Neanderthal admixture and that separated from other non-African lineages prior to their separation from each other. The first farmers of the southern Levant (Israel and Jordan) and Zagros Mountains (Iran) were strongly genetically differentiated, and each descended from local hunter-gatherers. By the time of the Bronze Age, these two populations and Anatolian-related farmers had mixed with each other and with the hunter-gatherers of Europe to drastically reduce genetic differentiation. The impact of the Near Eastern farmers extended beyond the Near East: farmers related to those of Anatolia spread westward into Europe; farmers related to those of the Levant spread southward into East Africa; farmers related to those from Iran spread northward into the Eurasian steppe; and people related to both the early farmers of Iran and to the pastoralists of the Eurasian steppe spread eastward into South Asia.

The ideal honey profile for 153 Irish consumers of honey was one with a thick texture, a dark golden colour, made by a small‐scale producer, at a price of IR£1.95 and packaged in a 454g (1lb) plain glass jar. Least squares regression was used to estimate part worths for the conjoint analysis. Using the scale attribute as a basis for segmentation three distinct segments were identified. Market simulation experiments simulated market shares for 11 products; the ideal products for each segment (three in total), two existing mass‐produced honeys, four from small‐scale local farm producers and one from a farm producer produced on a larger scale. The first cluster was the least price sensitive, with the most important attribute being small‐scale producer source. Mass‐produced honeys had a very small market share in this segment. The second cluster was distinguished by deriving a high utility from a light‐coloured honey. Again mass‐produced honeys had the smallest market share. In the first two clusters, in addition to some of the ideal products, honey/s from small‐scale producers had high market shares. The third cluster was the most price sensitive and the mass‐produced honeys commanded their largest market share in this segment. This segment also derived the highest utility of all segments from a honey produced on a mass scale. The results show that adjusting pricing and promotional approaches could increase market share for honey producers.

Increasing consumer interest in nutrition has led to an increased interest in nutrition labelling. Finds that over half (58 per cent) of the sample surveyed read nutrition labels. Nutrition labelling was found to have an impact on consumer purchase decisions. Of those consumers who read nutritional labels, 81 per cent use them in their evaluation of food products. Consumers have to deduce information from nutrition labels in their current format. Survey findings reinforce previous work carried out in this area, particularly in the context of consumer categorization of food products as “good” or “bad”. For example, consumer avoidance of “negative” nutrients is apparent throughout the survey. The majority of respondents, who read labels, indicated that they search out information on nutrients they wish to avoid. In general, since time allocated to shopping for food products is limited, the format of nutritional labelling needs further consideration and improvement. The concept of nutrition should be incorporated into food companies’ marketing strategy.

85between ~12,000-1,400 BCE, from Natufian hunter-gatherers to Bronze Age farmers. 86 We show that the earliest populations of the Near East derived around half their 87 ancestry from a 'Basal Eurasian' lineage that had little if any Neanderthal admixture 88 and that separated from other non-African lineages prior to their separation from each 89 other. The first farmers of the southern Levant (Israel and Jordan) and Zagros 90 Mountains (Iran) were strongly genetically differentiated, and each descended from 91 local hunter-gatherers. By the time of the Bronze Age, these two populations and 92 Anatolian-related farmers had mixed with each other and with the hunter-gatherers of 93 Europe to drastically reduce genetic differentiation. The impact of the Near Eastern 94 farmers extended beyond the Near East: farmers related to those of Anatolia spread 95 westward into Europe; farmers related to those of the Levant spread southward into 96 East Africa; farmers related to those from Iran spread northward into the Eurasian 97 steppe; and people related to both the early farmers of Iran and to the pastoralists of 98 the Eurasian steppe spread eastward into South Asia. 99 Between 10,000-9,000 BCE, humans began practicing agriculture in the Near East 1 . In the 100 ensuing five millennia, plants and animals domesticated in the Near East spread throughout 101 West Eurasia (a vast region that also includes Europe) and beyond. The relative homogeneity 102 of present-day West Eurasians in a world context 2 suggests the possibility of extensive 103 migration and admixture that homogenized geographically and genetically disparate sources 104 of ancestry. The spread of the world's first farmers from the Near East would have been a 105mechanism for such homogenization. To date, however, due to the poor preservation of DNA 106 in warm climates, it has been impossible to study the population structure and history of the 107 first farmers and to trace their contribution to later populations. 108In order to overcome the obstacle of poor DNA preservation, we took advantage of two 109 methodological developments. First, we sampled from the inner ear region of the petrous 110 bone 3,4 that can yield up to ~100 times more endogenous DNA than other skeletal elements 4 . 111Second, we used in-solution hybridization 5 to enrich extracted DNA for about 1.2 million 112 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) targets 6,7 , making efficient sequencing practical by 113 filtering out microbial and non-informative human DNA. We merged all sequences extracted 114 from each individual, and randomly sampled a single sequence to represent each SNP, 115 restricting to individuals with at least 9,000 SNPs covered at least once. We obtained 116 genome-wide data passing quality control for 45 individuals on whom we had a median 117 4 coverage of 172,819 SNPs (Methods). We assembled radiocarbon dates for 26 individuals

This study analyzes cattle farmers' perceptions of risk and risk management strategies in Tigray, Northern Ethiopia. We use survey data from a sample of 356 farmers based on multistage random sampling. Factor analysis is employed to classify scores of risk and management strategies, and multiple regression is then used to investigate the relationship of scores and farmers' characteristics. The results demonstrate that shortage of family labor, high price of fodder and limited farm income were perceived as the most important risks. Use of veterinary services, parasite control and loan utilization were perceived as the most important strategies to manage risks. Livestock disease and labor shortage were perceived as less of a risk by farmers who adopted the practice of zero grazing compared to other farmers, pointing to the potential of this practice for risk reduction. We find strong evidence that farmers engage in multiple risk management practices in order to reduce losses due to cattle morbidity and mortality. The results suggest that government strategies that aim at reducing farmers' risk need to be tailored to specific farm and farmer characteristics. Findings from this study have potentially important policy implications for risk management strategies in developing countries.