Acceptance of genetically modified food in Spain reached such an extent that growers in Catalonia planted a higher proportion of their corn crop with biotech seed than peers in the US. Spanish growers raised sowings of genetically modified corn by 19.5% this year to a record 116,000 hectares, analysis of Spanish farm ministry data shows. The sowings, with Monsanto's MON 810 variety, the only biotech seed commercially grown in the European Union, accounted for some 30% of the Spanish corn crop. And it was particularly popular in Catalonia, where it accounted for 90% of seedings – a higher rate than the 88% of US corn planted with genetically modified varieties, according to the US Department of Agriculture.