My dad was a microbiologist involved with farming feed and soil studies (and also electrical issues, and he was in the food industry and gov't clean water lab for a time). There are two sides to every story, natch, and while Silent Spring went a bit too far, he felt there were some serious issues with feed and soil (affected by pesticides and herbicides etc.) that had not been properly addressed. It is a trade; too often folk get caught up on one side or the other, like anything else. The demand for large volumes of food crops (for people and animals) at minimal cost often conflicts with the desire for long-term studies and safer, perhaps all-natural, treatments. The latter are too often just not cost-effective for large farms. GMOs and use of antibiotics in animal feed are other hot topics with no clear answer.
This reminds me of times listening to pro-organic and pro-natural power folk argue against pro-treatment and pro-nuclear people. The only good thing about it is it makes the CD vs. LP debate somewhat more palatable...