NIFA
NIFA employees vote to unionize by large margin
GOP hoots ‘elitist’ as Democrats question USDA’s plan to relocate researchers
Hoping to dissuade Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, farm-state Democrats in Congress asked for a cost-benefit analysis that would justify moving two USDA research agencies out of Washington. Two senior Republicans on the House Agriculture Committee ridiculed the opposition to the relocation as elitism and knee-jerk obstructionism of President Trump.
House panel to vote on blocking relocation of two USDA agencies
If a House Appropriations subcommittee has its way, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue would be barred from moving two USDA research agencies out of Washington.
Come here, ERS and NIFA, say Kansas and Missouri lawmakers
Relocation at hand, USDA research agency staff votes to unionize
Employees of the Economic Research Service voted in a landslide to unionize on Thursday in balloting that was an unofficial referendum on Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue’s plan to move the agency out of Washington in the coming months. A vote on unionization is set for June at the National Institute for Food and Agriculture, also slated for relocation.
Secret sites are on USDA’s short list for new homes of relocated agencies
The finalists in Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue's plan to move two research agencies out of Washington include "multiple" undisclosed sites in Indiana, a symbol of complaints of hidden motives and scanty material to support the move. Separately, the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities, a perennial USDA research partner, said it feared relocation would damage the effectiveness of the grant-making National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA).
Is moving day near for two USDA agencies?
Like a genial bulldozer, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue relentlessly is pushing two scientific agencies out of Washington, with an announcement expected in mid-May of a new home in the heartland. Some mid-level USDA officials believe Kansas City, already the home of the department's commodity procurement office, is the favored site.
Perdue could pick new home for ERS and NIFA in May
The USDA is working briskly to move two scientific agencies out of Washington, an aide to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue told lawmakers on Wednesday, despite skepticism on Capitol Hill about whether the relocations are justified. “We anticipate we will have a site recommendation to the secretary in early May,” she said.
USDA moving ahead on agency relocations
A British consulting company will whittle down the list of potential relocation sites for two USDA research agencies in coming weeks with an eye to making a final recommendation after April, the USDA said on Wednesday.
Headed for the Heartland? Midwest, Plains dominate USDA semifinal list
A day after asking for $25 million in moving money, the USDA said on Tuesday that at least 67 sites, predominantly in the Midwest and Plains, are being considered for the new homes of two Washington-based research agencies. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue insists he has the power to move the agencies despite resistance from lawmakers.
USDA tells ERS and NIFA staff who stays and who moves
In two ways, lawmakers say ‘no’ to relocation of USDA research agencies
Congress is about to send USDA funding for the rest of the fiscal year to Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue. It will also send him an unambiguous, although nonbinding, message: Don’t move the Economic Research Service or the National Institute of Food and Agriculture out of Washington.
Capitol Hill pours cold water of relocation of two USDA research agencies
On USDA’s checklist for moving agencies out of D.C.: Travel time
The Agriculture Department is sharpening its criteria for choosing new homes for two science agencies that Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has decided to relocate outside of Washington by the end of this year.
Inspector general to review USDA relocation of two agencies
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue aims to announce the new homes for two USDA research agencies in early 2019, potentially relocating them as far away as California to save money and make it easier to recruit workers. The inspector general, however, will review whether Perdue can act on his own, announced two lawmakers.
From inside the Beltway to the Central Valley, locales woo USDA agencies
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said on Tuesday that “interest from across the country has been overwhelming” at the chance to house two USDA research agencies that he has decided to move out of Washington.
Reorganization is an internal matter, Perdue tells inquiring senators
The USDA will need only a couple of months to pick the new homes for two research agencies that are being moved out of the Washington area, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in a letter. He also told the leader of the Senate Agriculture Committee that "this is an internal operational decision" so there was no requirement to seek public comment before deciding to relocate the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
NFU opposes USDA plan to relocate research agencies
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue may jeopardize the objectivity of two USDA agencies by taking control of the Economic Research Service and moving it and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) out of Washington, said the National Farmers Union on Tuesday. The second-largest U.S. farm group announced its opposition to the reorganization in a letter to Perdue, saying the USDA has failed to justify the reorganization announced a month ago.