US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue says the US Department of Agriculture has received 136 expressions of interest from cities in 35 states—including South Dakota– interested in becoming the new homes of the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Among the interested cities are Sioux Falls and Brookings in South Dakota; Fargo, North Dakota; Omaha, Sidney and Lincoln in Nebraska; Missoula, Bozeman and Billings, Montana; and Shakopee, Minneapolis and Falcon Heights, Minnesota.
In August, Perdue announced most ERS and NIFA personnel would be moving to outside of Washington, DC, by the end of 2019. USDA intends to select the new location or locations by January 2019 and will retain a consultant with expertise in relocations. A yet-to-be-determined amount of staff from the two agencies will remain in the Washington, DC, area.
USDA is undertaking the relocations for a variety of reasons. The move will place important USDA resources closer to many stakeholders, most of whom live and work far from the Washington, D.C. area. Additionally, taxpayers will realize significant savings on employment costs and rent, which will allow more employees to be retained in the long run, even in the face of tightening budgets. Finally, the plan will improve USDA’s ability to attract and retain highly qualified staff with training and interests in agriculture, many of whom come from land-grant universities.
Under the plan, no ERS or NIFA employees will be involuntarily separated. Every employee who wants to continue working will have an opportunity to do so, although that will mean moving to a new location for most. Perdue also noted 91 percent of USDA’s approximately 108-thousand employees currently work outside of the Washington, D.C. region.
States represented in the expressions of interest are: Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, North Dakota, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, West Virginia and Wyoming.
