Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 6/20/19

The Agricultural and Applied Economics Association released a report calling into question USDA's claims last week that moving the Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture to Kansas City would save $300 million over 15 years. The group said the relocation would ultimately cost taxpayers between $37 million and $128 million after taking into account the value of future research that could be lost due to veteran economists fleeing the agencies, your host writes.

Three of the group's economists, including two former ERS administrators, reviewed USDA's own cost-benefit analysis released last week touting the long-term savings of moving the agencies out of D.C. Perdue has long promised the move will benefit taxpayers and improve efficiency at the agencies.

But the association's economists said the USDA analysis has two omissions that undermine its findings, including no measure of how high turnover at the agencies could negatively affect their work.

— Scott Swinton, one of the economists behind the report, said the "cost to the nation of the loss of this expertise alone will amount to somewhere between $149 million and $215 million."

— The AAEA review pointed to ERS research that "dramatically reduced the cost of achieving conservation benefits through the Conservation Reserve Program" as an example of taxpayer savings stemming from the agency's work.

The group also said USDA only compared the cost of moving to Kansas City to its current expensive leases in D.C., rather than a more affordable site within the Beltway.

USDA stands by its analysis: A spokesperson defended the department's analysis and reiterated its findings that the move would save about $20 million per year on employment costs and rent.

The savings "will allow more funding for research of critical needs like rural prosperity and agricultural competitiveness, and for programs and employees to be retained in the long run, even in the face of tightening budgets," the spokesperson told MA.