A previously unknown group - Society for the Protection of Organism Feelings - has demanded a ban on field trials of an agri-chemical company's products on live crops, fungi and insects in New Zealand.
The society said it was committed to protecting the rights of plants and insects so they wouldn't be exposed to any negative feelings - including fear.
"We'll be taking action, and organising protests, to bring to the attention of horticulturists that plants, fungi and insects do in fact have feelings, and suggesting measures to increase feelings of peace, love and harmony within the fields and paddocks of New Zealand," the society said.
It has written to growers in the Hawke's Bay region claiming experiments had shown electrical resistance changes in a plant when a researcher thought about burning leaves on the plant.
Most growers were bemused by the new group but a few with a keen eye noticed something that could be pertinent. The initials of the Society for the Protection of Organism Feelings form the word SPOOF.