Page, N.D., farmer Matt Mechtel helped his fellow crop producers around the world reach a milestone this spring.

The world's farmers have planted more than a billion acres of genetically modified crops since the high-tech seeds first hit the market 10 years ago.

U.S. farmers are adopting genetically modified crops at a staggering pace.

Last year, 82 percent of the soybeans grown in North Dakota and Minnesota were genetically modified to resist herbicides. That compares to 49 percent in North Dakota and 63 percent in Minnesota three years earlier, the National Agricultural Statistics Service reports.

The trend is the same for acreage planted to genetically modified corn and canola, officials said.

Estimates for 2005 biotech crop acreages are not yet available.

"Farmers clearly like the technology," North Dakota Agriculture Commissioner Roger Johnson said. "Even the most optimistic estimates regarding the rates of adoption have been exceeded."

Researchers have genetically modified corn, soybeans, canola and a handful of other crops to tolerate a herbicide that can kill a wide range of weeds.

"The weed control is exceptional," said Mechtel, chairman of the North Dakota Soybean Council. "The technology is here to stay, and it's probably going to continue to grow."

Mechtel said he intends to plant about 4,000 acres of soybeans and 1,000 acres of corn this spring - all genetically modified.

Farmers' adoption of biotech crops continues to outpace acceptance in the global marketplace, said Michael Fernandez, director of science at the Washington-based Pew Initiative on Food and Biotechnology.

The Pew Initiative is a nonprofit and independent biotechnology research service.

The European Union has lifted a ban on the production of genetically engineered crops, but its regulators haven't approved any commercial applications, Fernandez said.

"Public attitudes about biotechnology in Europe are very different," he said.

Europeans were dealing with mad cow disease and other food scares when U.S. farmers started delivering crops with altered genes, Fernandez said.

U.S. farmers would probably be growing a genetically modified wheat today if they didn't fear a market backlash, Johnson said.

The United States exports about 50 percent of the wheat it grows.

U.S. consumers have more confidence in their food regulators, Fernandez said.

About 70 percent of all processed foods in the United States contain genetically modified soy, canola or corn. Yet most Americans know little about the high-tech eats, he said.

Even with genetically modified crops growing all around them, most North Dakotans know little about the foods, a North Dakota State University study shows.

Of 407 North Dakotans surveyed, 64 percent didn't know what genetically modified foods were.

NDSU researchers who conducted the telephone survey last year also found that 48 percent of the respondents didn't believe or didn't know genetically modified foods are in stores.

The second generation of genetically modified crops should get more public attention, Fernandez said.

Scientists are trying to alter genes in crops to produce consumer benefits such as added vitamins and nutrients, he said.

"All of the early products were geared toward the farmer rather than the consumer, but that's changing," Fernandez said. "There's a lot of stuff going on in the laboratory."

Readers can reach Forum reporter Jeff Zent at (701) 241-5526