Week 8

Leading up to Week 8's lab period:

• The USDA Agricultural Census was consulted for data on farm expenses
• the blog was updated to display the new information
• Our final teamwork assessment was completed

During the lab period:

• Pie charts illustrating census data to compare all U.S. farm and organic farm expense distributions
• The final presentation was developed
• The blog was updated 

Looking forward:

• We plan to complete our presentation for the next lab period
• We plan to make edits and adjustments to out final report based off of the feedback we received from our advisers on our draft
• We will update our policy memo to include our new found data

Week 7

Leading up to Week 7's lab period:

• the project final report draft was written with the goals addressed in the Week 6 post
• policy memo for the USDA was drafted 

Conclusions made:

• there are advantages and disadvantages to both GMO and non-GMO products
• GMOs may have the potential to prosper, however, with corrupt politics and large corporations, the potential benefits are suppressed
• new policies on regulation of GMO product production, including labeling and derivation, are outlined in policy memo
• the monopolizing control can be destroyed with policies regarding the patent system, hindering the control large companies assert on farmers
• labeling of GMO products should be required to be made more thorough as to protect the rights of people to choose whether or not they want to consume GMOs

During the lab period:

• furthered research on patents in the GMO industry
• updated the blog to reflect current progress and standing of the project

Week 6

In week 6 of our project, we discussed:

• We have decided to use the information and life cycle assessment that we have put together to form a foundation in assessing the patent and large corporation presence in the GMO industry
• We want our policy memo to address patents and monopolizing companies and suggest reform
• Next week, our final report draft is due which includes our policy memo
• We are continuing to reach out to local farmers, including Drexel's own Urban Growers
• When writing our report, we will use the information we have collected as well as continuing our research as needed to support our discussion