The Corn Laws were so divisive in the UK because they were good for legacy nobles who owned vast amounts of rural land but bad for city dewellers and the emerging class of factory owners.

Note the story of

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Sugar

where particularly

   ... sugarcane in the United States remains nearly twice as expensive per pound 
   as in other developed countries due to the failure the industry would face
   without government subsidies

In the case of the US our comparative advantage for producing food is large and we don't improve national security by maximizing our production, we just use more fertilizer and get a bigger dead spot where the Mississippi river enters the ocean.