You are right. I've been working in this domain for 15 years. Technologies such as GPS, auto guidance, remote sensing, were common in agriculture back then. Some farmers are hackers too. I saw some pretty amazing Excel (!) spreadsheets modeling crop growth or disease damage.
There is something true when he says that farms are inefficient factories. They sometimes fail to give a proper income to the famer, considering the work they put in. But for me the solution is not overspecialized industrialized farms growing one crop for the rest of the world. It would be better to have highly versatile farms dedicated to fulfill the needs of specific areas to minimize transportation impact. I've never seen any environnemental protection concern related to the soylent production. It's all about saving time while eating healthy.
I saw a documentary about chinese farmers growing tomatoes. They could not imagine eating what they were growing. Pretty sad for a farmer.