Four environmental activists were this week convicted and fined at Edinburgh Sheriff Court for damaging Scottish Agricultural College crops worth £1.50.
As part of a protest against a trial of genetically modified crops, they pulled plants out of the ground - but they chose the wrong site, and instead damaged a variety trial of cereals. A college spokeswoman said the SAC hoped that it could continue its research unhindered.
The SAC was one of the few organisations with the scientific capacity to make an unbiased contribution to the understanding of the issue of GM crops, she added.