America’s foreign agricultural assistance provides significant domestic benefits by boosting demand for U.S. exports while making more food available to U.S. consumers and helping to guard against the import of pests and diseases, a new report says. (Agri-Pulse)  

U.S. and China’s “substantial” deal is already looking hazy, especially regarding China’s promise to hike its purchase of agricultural products, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday. (CNBC)

In the recent supplemental rule, EPA proposes to base SREs on the three-year average of recommendations by the Department of Energy (DOE), including partial exemptions. This value would be used to adjust the method of calculating renewable fuel percentages. The EPA announcement was met with immediate pushback from many agricultural and biofuel groups, in addition to lawmakers. (FarmWeekNow)

Chinese media representatives and ethanol producers recently visited Gerald Thompson’s family farm near Bloomington. The group learned about Illinois agriculture from area farmers and was specifically interested in the process of producing corn for ethanol. (FarmWeekNow)

Industry and government officials from 60 countries are meeting with U.S. officials in Washington, D.C., U.S., at the Global Ethanol Summit to learn about changing biofuels policies in countries around the world and prospects for expanded global ethanol use. (World Grain)

China is still a long way from forking out $50 billion for farm goods from the United States, agriculture industry analysts said on Monday, cautioning that getting there is contingent on removing substantial technical and political hurdles. (Reuters)