ethanol

Using corn residues - stalks, husks and cobs - to make biofuels appears to create more carbon dioxide over their life cycle than the target set by federal standards, says research at the University of Nebraska.

The government could issue an updated target for biofuel use by late spring or early summer, said EPA administrator Gina McCarthy at the North American Agricultural journalists meeting.

The EPA proposal to relax the ethanol mandate could pinch the market for biofuels made from crop debris, grass and wood, says a front-page story in the Des Moines Register.

The Biden administration awarded $90.3 million in grants to projects in 26 states, from California to Connecticut, to install blender pumps, storage tanks, and other equipment for the sale of fuels, such as E15, with higher-than-usual blends of biofuels, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. With the grants, the USDA has used $221 million of the $500 available through the Higher Blends Infrastructure Incentive Program.