It all depends on what you grow food for. Plants, like all living things need biology and nutrition for health. Soil left with the biology allows the plants to reach higher levels of health, thereby resisting diseases and pests without help. The higher the level of health in the plants you eat, the more nutrition you get, of a higher quality.
Plants can be grown in all kinds of mediums, but how high is the Brix measurement of nutrition in them? Over here there is a BIG division over hydroponics and organically grown food.
I agree that mulch has its problems. Last year the voles ate all the pea seedlings, twice. That's the very first time since 1998 that I've had that problem. But using cover crops for mulch is a better way of preserving soil health, but is more labor intensive than I can manage, so I use a lesser method, mulch.
We each use the system that works for us in the long haul, one that will preserve and increase the soil over time.