At least speaking for Germany we used a.lot more space in nature in the past. The difference is, that in the past it gave room for animals to live, elwhereas today fields are like a desert for wildlife. As long as we had agriculture in a way where it gave place for wildflowers and thereby insects and used hedges, which protected lots of other species, we did not have that much of an ecological problem.

Of course it's better to use less space and have less of a risk for famines, but without the surrounding ecosystems, which we are destroying, this also does not bear much value.