EU Ag Going Naked: The European Union has delayed for a couple of weeks a decision on cancelling the use of certain pesticides on agricultural crops. While cancelling them may be reasonable, it steepens the delta at which Europe eventually runs out of plant protection options. One analyst notes that Europe's opposition to both conventional pesticides and plant protection approaches based on biotechnology means that its agriculture eventually becomes "naked" to Mother Nature's will. Already, investment in seeds and traits exceeds the amount of research and development going into agrochemicals, with the latter category in decline. Meanwhile, Europe's pest problems such as the corn borer are getting worse. By contrast, the area planted to cr...