In a surprising turn of events, the presidential candidates have been talking about food. Food can be a winning topic, but we need to hear much more.

Donald Trump (seemingly influenced by his new ally, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.), is talking about making “America Healthy Again.” How? “We’re going to get toxic chemicals out of our environment, and we’re going to get them out of our food supply,” the former president has said. “We’re going to get them out of our bodies.”

Perhaps Mr. Kennedy’s dangerous anti-vaccine campaign has also rubbed off on the former president, who has repeatedly promised to cut funding for schools that mandate vaccines.

But back to food. Mr. Trump’s comments no doubt have left Big Agriculture unhappy. Let’s face it, though, the likelihood of him fulfilling those promises is probably on par with his pledge to provide “universal access” to in vitro fertilization. Does Mr. Trump even know that the farm bill, so important to farmers and consumers alike, expired Sept. 30 after Congress couldn’t get its act together to renew it?

Even so, he’s taking an opportunity on a topic that Vice President Kamala Harris must seize. Yes, she’s talked about the cost of groceries, blaming corporate price gouging for high prices. But there is so much more she could say about food. If you want to talk about the climate, economic justice, public health, labor and a host of other issues, you can hardly do better than by beginning with food. It is a linchpin issue.

Of course, food prices are a concern. And yes, prices are influenced by the shrinking pool of corporations that control much of what is grown, raised and eaten. For example, four companies control some 80 percent of the beef processed in the United States and certainly a rational approach to addressing corporate concentration and democratizing meat production would be a popular move. (Nor is beef an isolated example. Concentration is true of seeds, pork, chickens and fertilizer, to name a few more examples.)

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