MINNEAPOLIS—Today, the United States Department of Agriculture announced its finalists for the new homes of the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, despite heavy political and popular criticisms. In response, Dr. Steve Suppan, Senior Policy Analyst at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, issued the following statement:



"The Trump administration's reorganization and relocation of ERS and NIFA is a back-door tactic to achieve its desired, massive cuts to staff and budget that it failed to produce through the Congressional budget process. Congress had already appropriated funds for NIFA's office relocation within the National Capitol Area that USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue now proposes to use to relocate to Indiana, Kansas and Missouri or North Carolina.



If Secretary Perdue wishes to eviscerate ERS and NIFA research that is opposed by the White House, let him make that case to Congress, rather than hide behind an unjustified, criticized plan to force world-class researchers to make the decision to uproot their families or leave their careers."