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The title is alarmist, but the article backs it up somewhat. The handling of this pandemic (even if it only affects pigs) can tell us how they may inadequately handle an epidemic among people. It also factors into inflation in the Chinese economy as pork is one of the primary sources of protein for many Chinese. Food supply instability in China is good for no one.

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My thesis is that food price instability (say, a doubling of prices) in a short time would lead to massive social unrest, possibly revolution.

China expends enormous resources to maintain its country (arguably, it's more efficient as 3 or 4 separate countries), and a jump in the cost of food would disrupt that delicate balance.

The reduction in pigs will drop demand and price for soy which is already commonly used for meat/protein substitutes (like the Impossible Burger v2 is a lot of soy, and raw TVP is pretty close to ground meat in texture). I don't think that people will be happy, but they aren't going to have to go hungry unless they're carnivores.

Wouldn't the reduction in pigs increase demand for soy? I think that must have been what you meant.

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