Today's agriculture is based on a) the post-WWII "better living through chemistry" mantra and b) the go-big-or-go-home model of the 70's. Not to mention the tillage model from centuries prior.

None of these thought of soil as a complex, living matrix, with a vast interconnectedness to the plants, animals, waste, water cycle, etc.

Humanity, and I'll fully include myself in this category, has a habit of using the "latest research" in a broad manner, rather than humbly accepting that a new discovery might just be a small fraction of the total system.

That, and thinking nature was an infinite resource has led us to many of the issues we have today.