hide captionCustomers shop for produce at the Hunger Mountain Co-op in Montpelier, Vt., in 2013.

Customers shop for produce at the Hunger Mountain Co-op in Montpelier, Vt., in 2013.

Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin will sign a landmark bill into law on Thursday, making the state the first to require food producers to label products made with genetic engineering.

The law won't go into effect for two years, but it's already become a hot topic at the first outdoor farmers market of the season in the capital city of Montpelier.

"Finally we have a vote," says Laini Fondilier, who runs the Lazy Lady Farm stand. "We haven't been able to vote on this by our purchases."

Wayne Fawbush, a customer, says he goes out of his way to avoid buying GMO-based foods, and Fondilier chimes in, "But sometimes you don't know it's in there."

The majority of the corn, soybeans and canola grown in the United States are genetically engineered, mostly to resist certain pests or herbicides. That means most packaged food sold in this country contains products that were grown with genetic engineering.

As we reported last month, Connecticut and Maine have already passed labeling acts, but their laws only go into effect once a certain number of other states pass similar legislation.

Vermont is prepared to go first and go it alone.

The state's attorney general, Bill Sorrell, says he doesn't yet know what the label will look like, but he is sure of one thing: "I'll be very surprised if we are not sued," he says, by companies like Monsanto, the world's largest producer of genetically engineered seeds.

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