That's kind of my point – that it doesn't even need to fully balance the scales to be better than the alternative. In order to guard against food shortages in b

That's kind of my point – that it doesn't even need to fully balance the scales to be better than the alternative. In order to guard against food shortages in bad years we incentivize over-production in all years. If this over-production has to happen regardless (meaning the energy inputs are a sunk cost regardless), then why not recoup as much of it as a fuel as possible instead of dumping it in a hole somewhere?