I see these at a cadence that works with price engineering. I don't believe it. I think it is like "ham supply is constrained this easter" and then they mark up the prices and there are the same number of hams. They were engineering the market, not presenting an actual problem.
Skepticism is a great trait, but it should be your catalyst, not your conclusion. The article(s) showing this have numbers that support the claim, not to mention the history of previous cultivars' demise via similar mechanisms. Do you have something to the contrary?
This looks like that.