Iowa’s all-Republican congressional delegation and Gov. Kim Reynolds are asking U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins to move the agency’s research projects to Ames as part of its ongoing reorganization plan.
All six of Iowa’s federal lawmakers and Reynolds signed onto a letter sent to Rollins on Tuesday, Sept. 30, asking to relocate Agricultural Research Service projects from Maryland to Ames, which has one of the largest concentrations of USDA facilities and workers outside of Washington, D.C.
Their pitch comes as the USDA in July unveiled its reorganization plan to move most of its Washington-area staff to five locations around the country and shutter several USDA offices in the capital area, including its Beltsville Agricultural Research Center in Maryland.
Iowa’s senior Republican U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said the USDA’s reorganization may be held up by the federal government shutdown that started at 12:01 a.m. Oct. 1, but he looked forward to continuing talks with Rollins.
The current facility in Maryland is named after former Agriculture Secretary Henry Wallace, a native Iowan, so Grassley said “it seems very fitting … to relocate some of those facilities, ag research, to its namesake home.”
“Ames has the means and the USDA relationship needed to provide a very smooth transition,” Grassley said in an Oct. 1 call with reporters. “Since its already got a large concentration of USDA facilities and employees, that’s a very important additional benefit of bringing it to Ames. Moving these projects to Iowa would save costs in the long term and benefit Iowa’s economy. It would allow us to retain more college-educated professionals and help Iowa continue trailblazing the industry of agriculture.”
Democrats in Maryland’s congressional delegation have pushed back on Rollins’ proposal to eventually shutter the Beltsville site, saying the move requires congressional approval. Lawmakers shared concerns that the move would “waste” some $174 million in recent upgrades and repairs to the Beltsville facility, according to nonprofit news outlet Maryland Matters.
Newly announced USDA hubs are in North Carolina, Colorado, Utah, Missouri and Indiana. As of now, there are no Iowa hubs, but Rollins teased in an August visit to the Iowa State Fair that “there are more announcements coming.”
A USDA spokesperson said in an email the proposed reorganization would close the Beltsville research facility over multiple years and relocate the research currently occurring to one of USDA’s more than 90 other laboratories. The spokesperson didn’t comment specifically on the prospect of moving its research to Iowa.
“While BARC once used to be a state-of-the-art research facility, it is no longer worth the cost to bring it into the 21st century,” the spokesperson said. “USDA would need $500 million to fully modernize BARC to improve the facility and an additional $40 million a year in maintenance to sustain operations. This is not a wise use of taxpayer dollars when there are other USDA laboratories across the country with the capacity to house the research being conducted here.”
Ames is already home to major USDA facilities, including for the Agricultural Research Service, that are involved in animal disease research, diagnostics and vaccine regulation, as well as plant genetic research and environmental quality studies.
Iowa’s federal lawmakers and governor wrote the move would benefit farmers, producers and families nationwide.
“Iowa serves as a prime location with its unmatched production of food and fuel,” they wrote. “Our state has 35.7 million acres of land, more than 85% of which is used for agriculture. Iowa leads the nation in production of corn, soy, swine, beef, biofuels and more. Located in Ames, Iowa State University (ISU) works closely with the USDA, providing the agency with high-performance computing services to federal researchers.”
A spokesperson for Iowa State did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Republicans wrote that research activities at the Beltsville facility “align with Iowa State University and the Agricultural Research Service’s efforts, including soybean genomics, hydrology and remote sensing, animal genomics, animal biosciences and biotechnology, adaptive cropping systems and bee research.”
Their letter makes the pitch that Iowa’s low cost of living provides more affordable opportunities for USDA workers, noting grocery prices in Iowa are the second lowest in the nation and Iowa’s average cost of living falls 10.3% below the national average.
Iowa also leads the U.S. in egg production, with around 45 million laying hens producing about 15 billion eggs a year.
“As the heart of our nation and a leading agriculture producing state, Iowa brings firsthand knowledge and real-world experience to the USDA,” Iowa’s politicians wrote. “To put it simply, Iowa knows agriculture and would contribute unparalleled opportunities for the agency.”
Marissa Payne covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. Reach her by email at mjpayne@registermedia.com. Follow her on X, formerly known as Twitter, at @marissajpayne.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa’s federal lawmakers, Gov. Kim Reynolds ask USDA to move research projects to Ames
Reporting by Marissa Payne, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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