Source: USDA, 1/4/21

That’s one of the dilemmas facing Biden and Tom Vilsack, his pick for USDA chief, after the Trump administration uprooted the Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture from D.C. to the Midwest in 2019, your host and Pro Ag’s Liz Crampton report.

The abrupt move disrupted the agencies’ highly regarded work and sparked a brain drain of veteran employees. Addressing the damage to manpower and morale is seen as critical to Biden’s broader food, agriculture, trade and climate agenda, especially as the president-elect has talked up the need to expand and rely on agricultural research.

But more than a year since many staff were dispatched to Kansas City, there’s virtually no way to hit “undo” and bring everyone back to the Beltway. Many employees have found homes and settled into their new town. And the biggest challenge is replacing those who already left.

“It’s hard to pretend it never happened,” said former USDA Chief Economist Joseph Glauber, a senior fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute. “You’ve uprooted everyone’s lives, you had all these people quit — it’s a tough situation.”
By the numbers: Agency employees and outside experts say the first order of business should be to rapidly fill open positions, in whichever city makes more sense for each individual job.

USDA needs to hire at least 400 more people to return ERS and NIFA to their staffing levels during the Obama administration, according to a memo prepared for the Biden transition team by experts focused on using government programs to combat climate change.

“Most of us are still struggling,” said Laura Dodson, acting vice president of the ERS employees union and an economist at the agency. “New staffers cannot replace all the duties and responsibilities of the former staff. Many of us are overburdened and overworked, and unable to train new staff due to heavy workloads.”

Dodson said that it makes sense to have a field office in Kansas City and to give employees more options to work remotely — but that the agency should be centered squarely in the Beltway, where staff can easily collaborate with other research offices and share their work with policymakers.

Silver linings? The pandemic has also proved that remote work can be as effective as gathering in offices. It boosted the staffing process, too, as ERS in particular has benefited from being able to scoop up academics looking for work. While there are still large holes in the agencies’ rosters, employees say the hiring process has been more efficient than they expected.

A current USDA spokesperson said the agencies have been filling open positions throughout the pandemic and will “continue a robust hiring pace in 2021.”

— “Both ERS and NIFA have engaged with stakeholders near and far to ensure a robust pool of talented individuals are aware of career opportunities available at those agencies,” the spokesperson said.