U.S. Sen. Pat Roberts, (R-KS), the Senate Ag Committee chairman, has introduced a bill that would set up a nationwide system for the labeling of food with genetically modified organisms – or GMOs.

National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson issued a statement acknowledging NFU represents farmers on both sides of the GMO issue and said the family organization will not support the bill “in its current form.”

From Johnson:

“National Farmers Union (NFU) represents 200,000 family farmers and ranchers across the nation who employ a wide variety of practices and philosophies.  Many of our members have chosen to incorporate genetically modified organisms (GMOs) into their production methods, while others have made different choices.  The rights of GMO and non-GMO producers should be respected as equal while public concerns about GMOs are evaluated by federal agencies.

“NFU also values consumer rights, including the ability of consumers to have access to as much pertinent information as they want to know about their food.  We support mandatory labeling of foods derived from genetically engineered plants, although we do not have policy on what such labeling should look like. As such, NFU opposes the proposed GMO labeling bill in its current form.”