Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 8/16/18

Pro Ag's Wednesday story on how USDA's Economic Research Service employees were blindsided by Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue's decision to move their division under the Office of the Chief Economist and out of Washington, D.C., led to even more emails and phone calls expressing concerns about the plan.

Some argue ERS doesn't have a problem recruiting qualified employees (retention was one of USDA's cited reasons for the move). Another wondered why the department wasn't moving another division, like the U.S. Forest Service, outside Washington, where it can be closer to sites it manages.

Another lamented that moving ERS outside of the district could weaken its national focus: Would a Midwest-based ERS be more likely to skew its research toward cornbelt concerns? Would an agency based in a Southern state be more attuned on rice trends at the expense of other topics?

Still asking why: For many, the biggest question is still: What's really driving this decision?

USDA has offered up its rationale: cost savings, better customer service, better staff retention and so forth. "The intent is to strengthen the department and make it more accessible to stakeholders, while saving taxpayer dollars in the process," Tim Murtaugh, communications director at USDA, said this week.

Still, the ag-econ hivemind is largely flummoxed by the decision. Many worry the independent and unbiased data and analysis widely relied on could be jeopardized by the move.

"There are 16 agencies at USDA. Why these two? And they're both science and statistics based?" asked Ann Bartuska, who served as deputy undersecretary for research, education and economics at USDA, and then also as acting undersecretary before she retired last year.

USDA has experience with movin' out of D.C.: Bartuska recalled being at the U.S. Forest Service during a bid to move a piece of its operations out of the district.

This time around, she said, she's particularly surprised by how quickly the department appears to be making its plans. USDA issued a notice Wednesday allowing 30 days for input on where to relocate ERS and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture — with plans to move the agencies by the end of next year.

More than a decade ago, when the Forest Service decided to move its HR operations to Albuquerque, N.M., (a unit that's roughly the size of ERS today), it came after more than a year of analyzing the costs and benefits. The move was projected to save taxpayers $20 million per year.