This is such an important perspective. You do a phenomenal job framing the problem in a scientific way, and acknowledging the economic realities farmers face when making growing decisions but identifying when that collective set of decisions leads to a less optimal outcome. Corn is a self-perpetuating system as a result of a lot of factors that are outside the control of farmers and consumers. And because of how markets and in innovation work, the more corn is grown, the more we’ll do with it. We learned how to make HFCS and ethanol because there was a lot of cheap corn around. Intentional science policy could do a lot to address challenges in our food system, but unfortunately federal funding for agricultural research has stagnated over the past three decades, so it doesn’t seem likely to be having an impact anytime soon. Great post though!