Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown received props from Ellen Kanner -- the Edgy Veggie -- for his recent introduction of the Local Food, Farms and Jobs Act as part of the 2012 Farm Bill. The Act will increase funding to small farmers pursuing national organic certification and to underserved communities seeking greater access to fresh, local produce.

"Processed food is anything but local and in most cases anything but nourishing," she writes for Huffington Post. "It's come at a cost to our health and hasn't helped the environment or our floundering economy. On the other hand, real, nourishing food comes with real, nourishing fringe benefits."

Demand for "real, nourishing food" can be tracked in the growing number of local farmers markets across the country -- over 7,000, up 250 percent from 1984.

"True, there are twice as many McDonalds, but local produce is inching up on processed, and that has everything to do with consumer demand. We're voting with our forks and our wallets, and we're voting for local food that nourishes us and our communities. For every buck you spend on jalapenos grown by your neighborhood farmer, two-thirds of that dollar stays in your community. Spend the same dollar at a big box store and more than half your money flies away.

"Factory farming, climate change and the Farm Bill are issues so big, they're sometimes eye-crossing. But the Local Food, Farms and Jobs Act shows we're ready to take them on. We're ready to be nourished."

Read the whole HuffPo post here.