Fifty-eight percent of voters backed an initiative brought by left-wing groups, environmentalists, farmer and consumer associations to strengthen existing restrictions introduced last year.

The moratorium also swept through the required dual majority hurdle by gaining majority support in not just half but all of the country's 23 cantons.

Forty-four percent of voters rejected the initiative.

The Swiss government had argued that the moratorium would have little practical effect on Swiss agriculture following anti-GM legislation passed last year, while already restricted food imports would be unaffected.

The use of GMOs in farm animals is already outlawed permanently, while genetically modified plants or crops are subject to a long testing and authorisation process that would take at least five years to complete, according to Swiss authorities.

Swiss Economics Minister Joseph Deiss acknowledged after the vote that there was a clear demand for more people-friendly farming instead of mass production.

"You have to recognise that the skepticism about GM plants is spread rather evenly around the country."

No companies or researchers have taken advantage of the opportunity to request authorisation to use genetically modified crops or plants in Switzerland under the law passed last year, Deiss underlined.

The initiative will explicitly add a moratorium until November 27, 2010 on the use of GM plants and animals in agriculture in an attempt to boost the reputation of Swiss farm produce.

"The population doesn't want GMOs in their plate, so we don't want them in our fields," said Luc Barthassat, a Christian Democratic Party parliamentarian and farmer.

The environmental group Greenpeace said: "Switzerland, the homeland of genetic engineering giant Syngenta, is clearly unwilling to risk health, food security or the environment by allowing crops to be genetically engineered." Greenpeace Switzerland complained that field trials of GM plants would still be allowed.

But some politicians and industralists argued that Swiss legislation on GMOs is already among the most severe in the world.

Although research was not directly mentioned in the initiative, opponents claimed that new restrictions will undermine the climate for research while economic rivals like China, India or the United States were forging ahead.

"We certainly regret such a negative result for Switzerland as a location for research and innovation," said Alwin Kopse, a spokesman for Syngenta, the Basel-based agrochemicals group which carries out most of its GM tests abroad.

"We regret that the Swiss farmer will now face limited choice," he added, while underlining that just three percent of Syngenta's turnover came from developing GM crops such as corn or rice.

Many Swiss farmers argued that more time was needed to assess the environmental impact of GMOs, and some hoped the moratorium would prove to be durable.

"The signal that's being given here is that research on GMOs in agriculture is not the right path to follow," said Jean Yves Clavien of a lobby group for organic farming, Bio Valais.

Researchers were divided on the issue. Many do not want to close the door completely to possible future beneficial uses of GMOs -- such as to avoid the use of chemicals and pesticides on crops -- or discourage finance for research on safety and the environmental impact.

After Sunday's vote, there were growing calls on both sides of the fence for some form of monitoring of the results of biotech research, both on the safety side and on the value of GM foods.

In a separate referendum Sunday, Swiss voters backed government legislative changes aimed at formalising the opening of shops in railway stations and airports on Sundays.

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