It seems like there are two questions you’re curious about: is there really a “food movement” and do the ideals of the movement — for fair, sustainable, healthy food for all — really reflect the interests of consumers? In our piece, we included evidence that we believe shows that yes there’s a movement and yes, people care.

But if you want additional evidence to see the emergence and growth of a food movement nationwide, consider:

• the thousands of students on 300+ college campuses across the country pushing to transform school food purchasing through the network, Real Food Challenge
• the tens of thousands of food worker members of the 5-year old Food Chain Workers Alliance, who have as their mission not just better wages but sustainable and health food, too (see our work with this group at voicesofthefoodchain.com)
• the successful passage of the Good Food Purchasing Policy in Los Angeles 2012, with widespread public support, which embeds sustainability and justice values into procurement policy
• the dozens of Food Policy Councils across the country made up of everyday Americans engaged in food system change
• the demand for Food Studies programs, courses and majors alongside new organic farming programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels in universities across the country
• the skyrocketing growth of the new AmeriCorps program, FoodCorps, which brings young people into schools and school districts to help build school gardens and food education programs
• the growing movement of young farmers networked through the National Young Farmers Coalition and pursuing innovative ideas like adding farming to the federally approved professions deemed public service that can defer student loan repayments
• the success of the farmworkers movement in Florida to establish powerful codes of conducts thanks in part to the organizing of clergy and students and everyday eaters for their Fair Food Program across the country

I would also add my personal experience from research and public speaking on food in the last 15 years that has taken me to 100+ cities for 400+ events: Everywhere I’ve traveled I’ve met people who care deeply about all of these questions, from Louisville, Kentucky to Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

As we said in the piece, these examples show there is a food movement alive and well, but if you’re curious about whether polling backs this up, whether polls show that everyday consumers really care, here are some helpful leads. There’s the poll from 2015 that we mention, conducted by well-respected, bi-partisan, pollsters Celinda Lake and Chris Matthews: 94 percent of voters said that it was very or somewhat important that our food system promote equal access to healthy food. A powerful indication that people care – not just about their own health, but fairness and healthy food for all. Voters also expressed concerns about workers in the food industry: 75 percent of voters polled are very or somewhat concerned that five of the eight worst paying jobs in America are in the food system. (There is also this poll). In addition to this polling, the food retail industry analysts that we cite in the piece have good analysis, too. I also think the results from the GMO labeling battles are illustrative of consumer attitudes: In each instance, industry eked out a narrow victory against GMO labeling bills, despite outspending advocates many times over.

What about indicators from the marketplace? Significant growth of organic food sales despite the tamping down of supply because of regulation, subsidies, lack of research and training, and more.

To me, the “hard data” of the limited acreage yet transitioned to organic and the vast majority of meat and dairy still raised in inhumane factory farms tells us more about the entrenched power of the oil, pharmaceutical, fertilizer, chemical, agribusiness and food industries to protect the status quo than it does about the size and intent of the food movement.

Then there are business schools like the Presidio Graduate School of Sustainable Management saying that the rise in students interested in sustainable food business is skyrocketing. The boom of new businesses like Farmigo, Chipotle, Lemonade, Bright Farms and more.

We wouldn’t say that most women don’t care about pay equality just because women still only make 79 cents to the dollar of men’s wages. Or that the environmental movement doesn’t enjoy widespread support because there are still climate denialists in Congress and not everyone buys a Prius. Similarly, just because everyone isn’t munching on farmers market kale doesn’t mean that the values of the food movement — for healthy, fair sustainable food — don’t resonate with people throughout the country and that the movement itself isn’t capturing the imagination of millions. The food movement is alive and well — and growing.

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In her latest column for The Washington Post, “The surprising truth about the ‘food movement‘,” Tamar Haspel argues that the number of people who really care about where their food comes from, how it is grown and its impact on our health and the environment is surprisingly small.

We think she’s wrong. As two people who talk to consumers, farmers and retailers every day about food buying choices, we can tell you that the level of awareness and concern for the food we are eating is higher than it has ever been — and shows in changing attitudes and in changing habits, too.

But don’t take our word for it. Listen to food industry analysts like Scott Mushkin, who said last year: “To me, the biggest change is what’s going on with eating trends in the U.S. It’s stunning how much food patterns have changed.” His firm’s research found that the No. 1 one message of women surveyed was that they want to buy more fresh fruits and vegetables.

Or look at indicators from the marketplace: Flagging profits at Walmart are a sign of the public’s changing attitudes toward food. The company was seen as a mortal threat to traditional food retailers when it entered the market, more than 15 years ago. Today, Walmart finds itself competing poorly with smaller stores offering fresh, local produce and even with other big-box stores, such as Costco, now the nation’s largest seller of organic food.

Meanwhile, sales of regular soda in the United States have declined a jaw-dropping 25 percent in the past two decades. This, despite Coca-Cola’s spending $3.5 billion on advertising in 2014 alone and dispensing millions in charitable donations to woo the public and deflect concern about its most profitable — and least healthful — products.

Those consumption trends are a reflection that Americans increasingly care about where their food comes from, how it is grown and the health and environmental implications of what they feed their families. Let’s be clear: These changes didn’t just happen. The shifts we are talking about are occurring as a result of the concerted work of dedicated advocates, activists and community-based organizations that are changing the marketplace and the food system. They are doing it not just through purchasing decisions but also by holding their elected officials accountable and demanding better food policy at local, state and national levels — all against the backdrop of billions in marketing by the processed-food and fast-food industries.

I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a food movement to us.

Yes, conventionally grown food still makes up the vast majority of what Americans buy on a daily basis. But that doesn’t reflect a lack of demand for organic food; it reflects a lack of supply. We’ve heard personally from the people who run large food companies that one of their biggest challenges is meeting the demand for organic fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat. And this brings up a very important point: The staggering gap between supply and demand reflects the regulations, policies, infrastructure — and even financial markets — that greatly favor conventional agriculture through billions of dollars’ worth of subsidies, generous insurance coverage, extensive research, technical help and even marketing assistance that make it difficult for farmers to transition to organic. The reality is the demand for organic is growing by leaps and bounds, limited only by the ability for supply to match it.

The demand for fresh, local and organic is seen clearly in the popularity of the nation’s farmers markets. Haspel argues that this popularity is waning, citing figures of plateauing sales. But other evidence points to a different story. Data from the USDA’s farmers market manager survey conducted last year found a bump in business: Among the more than 8,400 markets nationwide, 61 percent of those surveyed reported increased traffic; more than half reported increases in year-on-year sales. Because the USDA survey she looked at is done only once every five years, Haspel’s data was from 2007 to 2012, which, as you might remember, coincided with the country’s crippling recession, when the number of Americans struggling with hunger shot up by 12.8 million and consumers stopped spending. Sales of lots of things — homes, cars, refrigerators, even food — felt the effects of the economic downturn.

The change in the kind of food we buy isn’t happening just at grocery stores and farmers markets. Between 2006 and 2012, for example, there was a 430 percent increase in farm-to-school programs, reaching more than 4,000 school districts across the country with locally sourced food in school meals. The number of regional food hubs that connect farmers with wholesale, retail, institutional and individual buyers also grew by almost 300 percent during that time. That kind of growth doesn’t just happen. It takes organized, committed parents, teachers, food-service directors and administrators. It takes city planners, business, farmers, restaurateurs and retailers coming together.

These changing attitudes toward food are reflected in public opinion. A poll conducted last fall by bipartisan team Lake Research Partners and Bellwether Strategies for the Plate of the Union campaign found that voters are overwhelmingly concerned that not all Americans have access to healthful, affordable food and want to see policymakers take bold action to remedy it.

The food movement we are part of is a movement made up of farmers and farmworkers, of teachers and public health officials, of policymakers and chefs, and of everyday Americans from all walks of life. Despite what opinion writers such as Haspel say, they care about labeling genetically modified organisms (GMOs), farmworker rights and the effects of chemicals used to grow their food.

Big change never comes easily, and it never happens quickly. Along the way there will always be those who doubt it’s happening at all. But we can see it happening across the country — in grocery stores, in school cafeterias, on family farms. And even in the halls of Congress.

Chellie Pingree is an organic farmer and a member of the House of Representatives (D) from Maine. Anna Lappé is a national bestselling author, co-founder of the Small Planet Institute and director of Real Food Media.

Originally published in The Washington Post

Photo by Melina Mara/The Washington Post

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