Dive Summary:

• The USDA has sent a letter to the White House proposing to sell 400,000 tons of surplus sugar to ethanol producers. 
• The sale would be the first instance of the sugar-for-ethanol stipulation found in the 2008 Farm Bill.
• The program allows the USDA to sell sugar below market prices in order to keep the price from going below mandated levels. 

From the article:

The program allows USDA to buy the surplus sugar and sell it to ethanol producers at a loss to keep prices from going below mandated levels. As reported by Reuters, large crops in the United States and Mexico have pushed sugar futures prices below the trigger price for potential forfeiture by processors of sugar to the government.