WILL ALLEN is right to point out that building a strong local food system is vital to a thriving economy and healthy population (“The good food revolution,’’ Op-ed, Oct. 19). That is why we have filed legislation to create a Massachusetts Food Policy Council, following a successful model used in at least 20 other states.
Our state food system faces challenges. Productive farmland is disappearing, poor nutrition and obesity are on the rise, and hunger is all too common. But too often we work independently to address these problems. A food policy council could change this by bringing together the players across the whole food system - people who grow, distribute, sell, and consume food - to work toward common solutions.
Examples are plentiful from around the nation. In Connecticut, such a council produced a statewide community food assessment, measuring the relative food security of each of the state’s 169 municipalities; in Iowa, the council leveraged private funds to promote buying local and helped modernize requirements for food assistance programs; and in Michigan the council is working to bring supermarkets to areas with no access to healthy foods.
A food policy council for Massachusetts would allow us to craft new solutions to our state’s challenges.
Stephen Kulik, State representative Democrat of Worthington
Linda Dorcena Forry, State representative Democrat of Dorchester 
