Propane prices vary considerably by region, here in New England it's a pricey way to heat and you're more or less locked in to one provider...most gas companies will not fill a tank they don't own.
As far as pellets go, maybe I'm missing something but they seem to be a solution in search of a problem. They're a commodity, and as such are subject to price increases, shortages, etc. At least with firewood you can almost always scrounge something (even if it's not very good quality) if you live in the country. I don't see what you gain buy using pellets vs some other form of heat.
I used to get a permit to get firewood from national forest land...the permit was cheap, somewhere in the neighborhood of $25, and no one really cared how much you took. It had to be dead & down. I'd just go to an area that had been recently logged and get the treetops, branches, etc. Lotta work huffing it out of the woods, but a few weekends worth of work I'd get enough for a couple years. As I've gotten older that's less and less appealing, as you noted it's a lot of work!
Corn may be big business, but before this thread I'd never heard of using it for heat. Is this something new? Is it just feed corn or something else?
Dunno what part of Vt. you're in, but firewood dealers abound here in northern N.H., though if by "cottage industry" you mean mom & pop + a couple employees, yeah...they're all fairly small businesses.
I wish I could find log length loads for $800. Going rate here is in the $1100 range, this is for a 9-10 cord load. Mostly maple, some beech, ash or yellow birch. Still a bargain compared to cut & split.
