But the real action has been local-level success on increasing the minimum wage. And this is for obvious reasons: One, it’s not strictly a food issue, though the biggest number of low-wage workers in the country is in the food system. Two, real organizers are involved. And three, the food workers and their organizers have formed alliances with traditional unions, which — if only barely — remember how to fight.

That’s what the rest of us need to learn: How to use basic organizing skills and how to fight. We need to prioritize one or more issues, we need to unite on those issues, and we need to gather others to apply pressure on politicians at every level and directly on corporations when possible.

The Sierra Club’s “Beyond Coal” campaign gives us a model: a clear goal (close all coal plants by 2030), nearly 200 organizers (and nearly two dozen lawyers), real funding and real results: New coal plant construction has been halted and 188 plants have been closed or scheduled to close since the beginning of the campaign in 2010.

The still-forming food movement must narrow its focus to a few possible-to-win issues. A short list from which to pick might include restricting the use of antibiotics, which is winnable with the right president; eliminating Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations or CAFOs, which are comparable to coal mines and might be winnable with a strong legal strategy and a series of local fights (imagine the excitement if even a single CAFO were shut down); marketing junk to children (around which a number of groups are strategizing, but so far without a strong presence); and fair treatment of workers. (There are other possibilities, of course; I’m not the decider.)

Even before there’s an organization willing to do Sierra Club-like work on one or more of these issues, there is something everyone who cares about food can do, starting right now: Push political candidates running for every single office to take a stand on food issues like these. Eighteen months from now we’re all electing House members, a third of us will choose senators, and there is, as you might have heard, a presidential race.

To my knowledge, and with the exception of the wage fights and Bernie Sanders, no presidential candidate has spoken about any of the above issues. Even Bernie Sanders, by far the most principled and thoughtful of the lot, may not be aware of the importance of these. (Sanders has come out in favor of G.M.O. labeling, however.) Yet he’s a natural ally, and could (and should) be pushed to bring them into any potential debates with Hillary Clinton.

Of course, few of us are going to have much access to Bernie or Hillary. We can, however, reach the people running for Congress from our districts, and it’s time to start asking them questions like these: Where do you stand on getting the routine use of antibiotics out of our food supply? On polluting our land, water and air, on using precious resources to raise tortured animals? On making sure my kids grow up eating decent food? And so on.

I’ll believe there’s a food movement when Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush are forced to talk directly about food issues. I’ll believe we’re effective when I see the routine use of antibiotics outlawed and when that first CAFO closes. I’ll know we’ve started to win when anyone who wants to farm real food has land on which to do it, when there are high-quality school lunches that are free for all, when we’ve started talking about providing that same quality dinner to anyone who needs it. Until then, we have a lot of work to do.