The extra effort to do something with the wood byproducts isn't worth it to the large, corporate, scaled-up farms. It means more labour to try to gather up the material and then selling wood pellets actually requires significant quality control; it's not like they can just scoop it up off the ground and sell it.

Another casualty of what happens during the shift from independent, family-run farms that often sold to grower's cooperatives to much larger, scaled-up operations that focus on wringing every last dollar out of efficiency and standardisation.

Placing it at the root of the trees makes a ton of sense as it increases yields and lowers need for inputs. Also helps with the compaction from all the mechanization in the orchards.

Selling it as fuel is maybe some added revenue in the short term but really just doesn't make sense. Now if you were getting a premium (lumber, specialty hardwood, etc), then processing and selling could make sense

"Could" is different than "will" or "would" which seems to be the point here.