EU member states have voted to impose a near- total ban on neonicotinoid insecticides – the most widely used class of insecticides in the world – across the region. The ban will cover all crops grown outdoors, but growers will still be free to use them in greenhouses across the EU.

Agrichemical giant Bayer has won EU antitrust approval for its US$62.5 billion acquisition of Monsanto, Reuters reports, on condition that Bayer sells off substantial parts of its business. If the merger goes ahead, it would create a company with control of more than a quarter of the world’s seed and pesticides market.