Subcommittee Explores USDA Agency Relocation Proposal

The House held a subcommittee hearing Wednesday on the relocation proposals for two USDA agencies highlighting further contention regarding the move.  USDA has proposed relocating the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture to the Kansas City metro, Indiana, or to Research Triangle Park in Raleigh, North Carolina.

Roger Johnson, President of the National Farmers Union says publicly-funded ag research, including that done by NIFA and ERS, is absolutely critical in ensuring that American farmers have the data and tools they need to be successful.

“Yet as the need for federally-supported science grows, this proposal pulls the rug out from under the agencies who provide it. Already, USDA’s hasty approach has disrupted operations – as experienced researchers scramble to find new jobs, NIFA and ERS have both lost decades of institutional knowledge."

Johnson said such as move would be bad news for Ag now and for years to come.

"By moving these agencies farther away from policy makers, we are concerned that their research will be devalued and their influence diminished. Similarly, we worry that reorganizing ERS from under the Research, Education, and Economics mission area to the Office of the Chief Economist may undermine the scientific integrity and objectivity of its work."

The top Republican on the House Agriculture Committee, Mike Conaway, noted however, “There is nothing that prevents USDA’s mission from extending outside of the beltway.”  Conaway added, “The elitist notion that all wisdom and knowledge stems from Washington, D.C. is offensive to me and should be offensive to anyone who resides in rural America.”

Conaway called the hearing a distraction that failed to focus on the pressing issues facing agriculture today, such as farm income, weather and trade.

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