The Reuters survey questioned 321 farmers at the annual meeting of the United States' largest grower group. Personal interviews were conducted at random and results do not attempt to weigh responses by state, size of farm or other criteria.

The results provide an early indicator of 2002 plantings of genetically modified crops. Most U.S. growers buy soybean, corn and cotton seeds at this time for spring planting.

The Reuters poll found gene-altered corn plantings would soar in 2002 for both major varieties.

Roundup Ready corn seeds enable growers to use a single herbicide, which farmers say boosts crop yields and cuts spending on costly chemicals. Another type - Bt corn - is engineered to help a growing plant resist harmful pests.

Farmers surveyed by Reuters said they would sharply increase plantings of Roundup Ready corn by 19.3 percent in 2002. Plantings of Bt corn will rise by 13.8 percent.

The increase appeared to be due mostly to the end of a year-long controversy over a variety of bio-corn, known as StarLink, which was not approved for human food but contaminated some 430 million bushels of the U.S. corn supply.

"We've learned a lot from StarLink, and producers have learned to ask a lot more questions," said Bob Stallman, president of the Farm Bureau. "There's a greater degree of comfort with biotech products and the marketing of them."

SMALLER RISE FOR GM SOYBEANS

Growers also said they would boost use of the popular Roundup Ready soybeans 8.3 percent. Bt soybeans - used by a tiny number of growers surveyed - will fall 14.6 percent.

Many U.S. farmers have already switched to engineered varieties of soybeans during the past five years.

"When you look at corn, soybean and cotton, and you're on a significant amount of those acres already, I can see where you'd take a step back and say that growth has stalled," said Randy Krotz, a spokesman for biotech giant Monsanto .

"But has the excitement and acceptance slowed in agriculture? Not at all. It's simply finding the next market," Krotz added.

Some farmers said that while biotech plantings will rise in 2002, the outlook is less certain further ahead due to consumer resistance in the European Union and Japan. The EU has delayed new approvals of gene-spliced crops since 1998, when France and others demanded tougher regulations for biotech products.

However, gene-altered cotton plantings will shrink this year. Bt cotton plantings will fall 8.4 percent and Roundup Ready cotton will drop 2.1 percent, according to the survey.

The decline is blamed mostly on a global glut of cotton.

Wheat, another key U.S. crop, also has a bright future for genetically altered varieties, according to those surveyed.

The poll showed that 54 percent of farmers surveyed who already grow wheat said they would plant a biotech variety, when one becomes commercially available.

Monsanto hopes to roll out the first bio-wheat seed in 2003. Development of gene-spliced wheat has taken longer than other crops because of the plant's trickier genetics.