The Senate Agriculture Committee will meet this week to consider a draft bill proposed by Chairman Pat Roberts (R-KS) to address labeling for genetically modified foods.

Roberts calls the Biotechnology Labeling Solutions legislation draft “a framework to find a solution for a patchwork of laws.” With a labeling law in Vermont set to be implement in July, Roberts says they are out of time and must take action now. The draft bill would “require the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a national voluntary labeling standard for bioengineered food” under the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1946.

Several agricultural organizations expressed support for Roberts’ bill. “The introduction of Roberts’s proposal is an important first step to restoring sanity to America’s food labeling laws,” said National Corn Growers Association President Chip Bowling of Maryland. “(S)tates such as Vermont are quickly moving toward costly, confusing mandatory labeling legislation. It is imperative that the Senate takes up this issue quickly to avoid a situation in which all American consumers pay a high price and gain little actual information.”

“Chairman Roberts’ bill is one that moves the food production industry in a direction of greater transparency, while at the same time protecting farmers’ ability to use what science has repeatedly proven to be a safe and sustainable technology,” said American Soybean Association President Richard Wilkins of Delaware.

Both ASA and NCGA are members of the Coalition for Safe, Affordable Food which has been working with Senate leadership to come up with a federal labeling program to avoid a patchwork of state and local legislation. The hearing on the Chairman’s mark will be held Thursday, February 25 at 10 am Eastern.