The Volcano and Modern Agriculture

Strikes me that the effect of the Icelandic volcano, whose name I will not bother with, on air travel might be a metaphor for disasters and modern agriculture.  Perhaps I'm super sensitive to agriculture's vulnerability because I've been reading some about the Irish potato famine of the 1840's, but here's my comparison:

First air:

• Modern society has evolved to become dependent on air travel and air freight, which assumes an absence of volcanic ash in the atmosphere
• it's a system which works very well, connecting people and products from different countries and continents.
• the overall effect is greatly to improve the standard of living globally
• the system is vulnerable to disruption by volcanic eruptions, grounding air travel

Now commodities:

• modern agriculture has evolved to become dependent on a small number of varieties for each major crop
• it's a system which works very well, maximizing the return from inputs of fertilizer and water and providing uniform outputs
• the overall effect is greatly to improve the standard of living globally
• the system is vulnerable to disruption by plant diseases which attack the varieties in use.