WASHINGTON, July 15 (Xinhua) -- As the U.S. Department of Agriculture is removing two of its research facilities from the capital to Kansas City, it risks losing hundreds of its top scientists who say the move will marginalize their voice in U.S. policy making.
Monday is the deadline for the affected employees to make their decisions on the removal slated to conclude in September. So far only a fraction of the 547 affected employees have shown their willingness to go to Kansas City in western Missouri.
The department decision involves the Economic Research Service (ERS), which analyzes the agriculture market, food stamps, rural poverty and conservation, and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), which works with universities to fund research projects.
About 70 percent of the ERS employees have signaled that they will not move, and only 27 of the 250 ERS employees will. At NIFA, 45 percent of the employees said they are not moving.
The department plan to remove the two agencies has triggered a wave of job hunting among the employees, many of whom consider moving to the U.S. Midwest a last option if no other jobs in the Washington D.C. area can be found.
The U.S. agriculture department said the two agencies moving from Washington D.C. will be able to save 300 million U.S. dollars over 15 years and can place researchers closer to the farming community, but critics said the move will sideline agricultural experts' voices in Washington's decision making.
"Moving these researchers out of Washington puts them out of earshot from policymakers," Rebecca Boehm with the Union of Concerned Scientists, told the U.S. political website The Hill. "It keeps science out of the policy-making process," she added.
