The corn, which is more resistant to disease-bearing pests, is expected to be used in the country's animal feed industry. It is not on store shelves now, and even environmentalists who oppose GE crops acknowledge it's not likely to show up on shelves any time soon.

Spain, France, Germany and Portugal have also begun commercial growing of GE corn this year. The European Union has long imported GE products from places like the United States, but only this year did it amend laws on the Continent's agriculture industry to enable countries to decide whether to allow the growing of GE crops.

The EU currently allows only GE corn to be grown, but it could greenlight modified potatoes and rapeseed down the line.

"This is a worldwide trend," says Jiří Felčárek, spokesman for the Agriculture Ministry. "All commercially used GE products will be examined in detail to eliminate possibilities of any eventual hazards."

GE crops are a far more divisive issue in Europe than in the United States, where they've been grown for years.

Those who support them say the ability of GE crops to grow in difficult conditions and avoid disease could improve life in developing nations. Opponents, such as Greenpeace, argue GE foods may threaten ecosystems and can harm animals and call for further testing.

"This is like a precedent," says Magdalena Klimovičová of Greenpeace. "Corn is the first GE plant entering our fields, so we have to fight it."

It appears that Czech farmers are approaching GE corn more cautiously than their counterparts in other countries. Spain grows 50,000 hectares (123,553 acres) of GE corn. Germany grows more than a 1,000 hectares. Czech farmers are now growing the GE crops on 40 of the country's 88,000 hectares of cornfields, mostly in central Bohemia and south Moravia. The Czech government will allow up to 270 hectares of GE cornfields.

"Before any mass use, [farmers] want to test it on a small scale and, providing it works, expand to larger grounds," says Felčárek. "Plus, with GM crops there is also the fact that public opinion in Europe forces farmers to be somewhat more cautious."

Observers say farmers are turning to the crop to save money: Better harvests would cut production losses caused by disease and lower the costs of chemically protecting crops.

With Czech farmers feeling pressure from cheaper products from abroad, GE food is likely to be getting their serious consideration.

Among the rules governing the crops are an Agriculture Ministry requirement that farmers to keep their GE corn 600 meters (1,969 feet) from conventional crops and notify the state and neighboring farms that they're growing it.

Farmers have until February 2006 to register their crops, meaning the ministry cannot now say how many farmers or farming companies are growing GE corn.

"Farmers can now choose what they want to grow," says Miluše Kusendová, a spokesman for Monsanto, a major multinational producer of farm chemicals.

Monsanto has been growing small batches of GE corn in the Czech Republic since last year and plans to begin selling GE corn seed to around 60 Czech farmers next spring.

The corn, like other GE products that are imported to the EU, must carry a special label. Even seed bags sold to farmers must bear a GE label, and Greenpeace is fighting to have meats labeled if GE corn was used in the animals' feed.

Those who lobby throughout Europe for more GE planting argue against further testing requirements.

Johan Van Hemelrijck, secretary general of EuropaBio, a biotech lobby group, says 8 million farmers in 17 countries grow GE crops, producing food for 3 billion people.

"Europeans are going every year and traveling as businessmen or tourists in areas of the world where they eat these products," he says. "No question whatsoever is asked. This is the best clinical trial and opinion trial that you can have."