Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced Thursday that the Kansas City region would be the new home of the department’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture and Economic Research Service. The highly anticipated announcement angered critics, who argue that relocating the agencies is unnecessary and disruptive to employees. Perdue says the move will save the department $300 million over 15 years.
“The Kansas City Region has proven itself to be a hub for all things agriculture and is a booming city in America’s heartland,” Perdue said in a press release announcing the move. “There is already a significant presence of USDA and federal government employees in the region, including the Kansas City ‘Ag Bank’ Federal Reserve. This agriculture talent pool, in addition to multiple land-grant and research universities within driving distance, provides access to a stable labor force for the future. The Kansas City Region will allow ERS and NIFA to increase efficiencies and effectiveness and bring important resources and manpower closer to all of our customers.”
The announcement was met with criticism from advocacy, farm, and science groups that oppose the move.
“This is a blatant attack on science and will especially hurt farmers, ranchers, and eaters at a particularly vulnerable time,” said Mike Lavender, senior manager of government affairs at the Union of Concerned Scientists, in a statement.
“We are shocked and dismayed that USDA has from the beginning refused to go through the proper channels — including the solicitation of public comment and adhering to the directives of Congress — for such a significant and disruptive change as relocating essential government research agencies,” said Juli Obudzinski, interim policy director at the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, in a statement.
Members of Congress spoke out against the decision, too.
“I am appalled with the Trump administration’s decision to force hundreds of Washington-based USDA research staffers to uproot their lives to Kansas City in order to keep their livelihoods,” Maine Rep. Chellie Pingree said in a statement. “The fact that NIFA and ERS staff both overwhelming voted to form a union demonstrates that they felt powerless to change the Trump administration’s politically motivated decision.”
Other members of Congress who opposed the move included Rep. Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut and House Agriculture Committee members Marcia Fudge of Ohio and Stacey Plaskett of the Virgin Islands.
But the Missouri and Kansas congressional delegations applauded the announcement, cheering what they said would be an influx of jobs to the Kansas City metro area, which spans both states.
“Today’s decision is a testament to the wonderful attributes of the Heartland and reflects the hard work of our local Congressional representatives and members of the Kansas City community, who did an excellent job highlighting the benefits of relocating these jobs to our area,” said Missouri Rep. Vicky Hartzler in a press release.
Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran said, “Today’s decision further bolsters Kansas City’s status as a national leader in the ag industry. It is always positive when our government can operate outside of Washington and closer to the people it serves, and I am certain that the decision to relocate NIFA and ERS to Kansas City is a good one.”
Perdue has argued that relocating the agencies outside of Washington would allow them to more easily attract talent, reduce costs to taxpayers, and locate employees closer to farmers and other USDA stakeholders. Opponents of the move say that it would uproot hundreds of federal employees’ families, make coordination among the agencies harder, and undermine research efforts.
The move would relocate 294 of 315 NIFA staff and 253 of 329 ERS staff. Earlier this week, Politico reported a “ ‘Hunger Games’-like environment” at NIFA as employees compete to remain in D.C. The USDA has maintained that no employees will lose their jobs as a result of relocation — or be “involuntarily separated,” as the USDA press release reads — although it concedes that keeping their jobs “will mean moving to a new location for most.”
Both the ERS and NIFA voted to unionize in the wake of the relocation announcement, seeking input in the process as Perdue moved ahead. Eligible employees at the ERS voted 138 to 4 to unionize in May, and NIFA staffers voted 137 to 2 on Tuesday. Employees of both agencies voted to join the American Federation of Government Employees.
“Employees at ERS and NIFA spoke loudly and clearly by coming together to organize a union and demanding a seat at the table when decisions are made that affect their work — including transferring their jobs outside Washington,” AFGE president J. David Cox Sr. said in a statement in response to Thursday’s announcement. “The USDA has provided no rational justification to employees, to Congress, or to its stakeholders for this move, which will make it harder for the agencies to coordinate with other science and research agencies.”
Dave Verardo, president of AFGE Local 3403, which represents ERS and NIFA employees, said, “[T]he researchers and other stakeholders we work with don’t want us to move — they want us to stay right here in Washington, where we can easily coordinate with the other federal science agencies.”
Although the USDA has now completed its site selection process, the relocation itself has not yet been cleared by Congress. In fact, a draft House Appropriations bill blocked the USDA from moving forward with relocating the two agencies.