It's not the same and it's not even close and I learned this a few sets ago when i first came back and went for avg. If you think its the same you obviously have not done it. In theory sure, but try and destock 16 countries, I personally crashed both bushels and oil when i tried to destock. It's both complicated and a pain in the ass, I managed short of $500m (125k-135k acres avg each country) avg i think and I thought I was going to do much better. SV managed $800m as a comparable I think.

The following set I was again going for avg until LOC declared war. After CC took out LOC i had 12 countries left, grabbed to 50k acres each, boosted one country to $4.7b.

Last set we warred LOC again, and when that war was done I again grabbed to 50k acres boosted 1 country and finished #1. Both sets I boosted one country I spent very little time, and actually enjoyed playing.

Playing for avg is tedious, time consuming and takes precision since (depending on your acreage) you rely on the market. With the stockpiles you accumulate during a full netting set you can easily manipulate the market for you own benefit when you don't need to destock 16 netting countries.

EDIT: This is my experience and my own opinion.