I'm sure when the tractor was invented, some bright minds realized this was going to be the end of small farms, and that some day we'd be eating manufactured food product out of a tube, having long forgotten the art of cultivating a rich breadbasket for your family.
They would've been right, of course, we've lost our health and our knowledge of the earth, somewhat catastrophically.
Which isn't to say we should've skipped the tractor. But just that "it's net good" won't be the end of the story.