Agriculture Adviser Defends Planned Research Office Moves From D.C.

The Agriculture Department on Wednesday provided its most detailed defense to date of its controversial plan to move two research offices from Washington to a still-unnamed site closer to farm country. Kristi Boswell, senior adviser to Secretary Sonny Purdue, told skeptical Democrats on a House appropriations subcommittee that the decision to move most of the 700 employees in the Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture was “not made rashly.” Spending money to relocate will create long-term efficiencies in “mission functions” and put the career professionals “closer to the broad array of customers and stakeholders who live and work outside of D.C.,” said Boswell, an attorney formerly with the American Farm Bureau Federation. “Our team will hear ground-level ideas on upcoming issues and develop research needs,” she said of the plan that has drawn organized opposition from many farm research groups.