Rebecca Henion

   This is a very good start on the first writing assignment.  
   You have done an excellent job, for the most part, on the 
   "they say" part.  

   I have made a number of suggestions for rewording
   or rewriting things directly on a printout of the 
   paper.  Ask me what I meant if the markings are not
   clear.

   Comment:

   The major thing I think you might add is more detail
   about why Laskawy says "We’ve handed over the seed industry - and 
   in a meaningful sense, the agricultural system - to a handful 
   of large companies."  I don't know if you are aware of this, 
   but some of the business practices that the big agribusiness
   companies like Monsanto and Syngenta are using with GMOs
   are actually really extreme.  For instance, when farmers
   buy seed for GMO varieties of a crop, they are in effect
   only leasing the seeds for one year by the way the companies
   have set up their business contracts.  Any seed the plants
   produce that year remains the property of the business, and
   the farmers cannot use it to plant in following years.  You 
   say that GMOs are not providing benefits for farmers and
   this is one of the reasons.  

   PS:  One of the main points of the Laskawy article
   is that increased resistance to pesticides and herbicides 
   is negating the benefits of GMO crops.  The interesting
   point her is that that resistance develops naturally 
   through evolution.  In effect, the genomes of the
   pests and the weeds are changing in response to 
   our genetic modification of the crops.  Some people
   compare the situation to an arms race where neither
   side can ever gain a decisive advantage.