I'm thinking the problem this time around is that countries are far more urbanized and thus fewer people can simply subsist by farming their own little plot of land just for food.

For most people food has to be bought, so they're dependent not just on the entire structure for producing and selling food keeping on working well enough that food prices don't go through the roof, but also on still having a job so that they can buy the food (a problem made worse because of how shallow most people's savings buffers have become).

So whilst I doubt that in terms of Economics "this time is different", I suspect the impact will be a lot more painful.