Both my grandmothers grew up in a time and place where you had to grow your own food, and one of them still grows her own veggies and raises chickens. Frankly, a system where you're forced to do so, sucks, and they certainly don't miss the long hours, the hunger that comes from the inefficiency of the production, etc.
You say this system is wasteful, but I disagree - probably much less human effort was wasted achieving the basic need of feeding that person than what was needed before - which is well shown by the fact that it cost much less (even with the Magic fee) than it did back then.
I don't agree that merely having more layers makes it necessarily more wasteful - if they're the result of specialization, it isn't.
You have a point about the disconnection and unmindfulness that comes from having these layers, but it reverting to the previous processes is akin to burning your eyes so that you can better understand and empathize with the blind. That would be waste, and I think better ways of maintaining that connection are possible.
