One of my best friends family owns a massive farm just outside of Greensboro, NC. He's a Trump supporter, we talk about these topics a good amount with differing views.
He's described them as two different paths, but have a similar overall goal - - increase productivity and profitability.
He has told me the issue with the chemical aspect as opposed to automation is that you're not always able to choose to not purchase seed type x or animal type y or feed type z.
He then spoke about the soybean issue with Monsanto. Basically saying because of the seed type people are able to use a different type of pesticide, but that pesticide kills his produce. And since the win blows he's forced to buy into a product ecosystem that he otherwise wouldn't, but the risk of a lost crop isn't worth it.
Whereas he'd say, with automation he may not be able to produce as much or require more labor but still potentially miss a crop due to adverse weather conditions.
I'm more than willing to be wrong here.
