WASHINGTON, D.C. — In an effort to help expand business and marketing opportunities for farmers and ranchers, Democrats U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Rep. Chellie Pingree of Maine introduced the Local Farms, Food and Jobs Act of 2013.

The identical Senate and House bills also increase consumer access to healthy foods. This legislation was spearheaded by Brown and Pingree, with help from organic farmer Sarah Smith of Skowhegan, Maine, and Tom Colicchio, head judge on Bravo Channel’s “Top Chef” and owner of 12 restaurants.

The bills address production, aggregation, processing, marketing and distribution barriers that limit growth in local and regional food markets.

The bill also makes targeted investments in programs that create jobs and spur economic growth through food and farms.

“Linking Ohio producers with Ohio consumers is common sense,” Brown said. “By increasing access to fresh, local foods we can expand markets for Ohio’s agricultural producers, while improving health, creating jobs and strengthening our economy.”

Smith said this legislation “will provide additional sales opportunities and can create new agriculture jobs.” According to Pingree, “consumers want to know where their food is coming from and they want healthy, local options when they shop for their families.

“But national farm policy hasn’t kept up with the public, and it’s about time we changed that,” she said. “This bill will help producers and farm markets greatly.”

There are now nearly 7,000 farmers’ markets in the United States, an increase of 150 percent since 2000. Direct-to-consumer agriculture sales produce $1.2 billion in annual revenues.

“Demand for locally grown food is growing in every corner of the country,” Colicchio said. “Thousands of farmers and farmers’ markets are serving millions of consumers and more than 2,000 schools have farm to school programs. But you wouldn’t know a food revolution was sweeping our country if you read the farm bill.”

Originally introduced in 2011, the Local Farms, Food and Jobs Act gained the support of nearly 100 legislative cosponsors and more than 280 organizational supporters in the previous Congress.

Because of its inability to finalize a new five-year farm bill in 2012, the updated version of the Act is intended for inclusion in what will hopefully be the 2013 farm bill.

The Local Food, Farms and Jobs Act includes provisions for funding to aid farmers building such things as community kitchens to process and sell their food locally.

It would require USDA to keep doing traditional seed research, not just on genetically modified seeds. The Act would also create a new crop insurance program tailored to the needs of diversified and organic farmers who grow a wide variety of crops and can’t easily access traditional crop insurance.

Brown added it would “break down barriers for schools to purchase local food more easily and would provide schools with a local school credit to purchase local foods.” The Act, he said, would also make it easier for food-stamp recipients to spend their money at farmers’ markets.