Balancing Act On the outskirts of the EU’s annual Outlook conference today, Agriculture Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski stated that there is the need for a “solid impact assessment” of the proposed 50 percent reduction in pesticide usage by 2030. This resulted in immediate pushback by environmental groups who worry that a more complete understanding would mean less of their understanding. The Dutch are not waiting for an official assessment, they are submitting a CAP plan that already has environmentalists angry. Inside the confab, a USDA official was explaining the conundrum: if productivity is not raised, people will starve, and if production practices do not become more environmentally friendly, the earth will be bur...

TAGS – North America, Macroeconomics