Items Tagged with 'scott hutchins'

“Critical steps remain to implement the transfer of ownership of [the National Bio- and Agro-Defense Facility] to USDA and prepare for the facility's operation, and some efforts have been delayed,” a new Government Accountability Office report has concluded.

Adapting to a changing climate is one of the themes of a new five-year research plan announced by the Agriculture Department.

Faced with criticism about delays in research reports and distribution of grant funding, a top USDA official defended the department’s decision to relocate the Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture to the Kansas City region at a congressional hearing Thursday.

USDA is working to ensure the Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture continue to perform “mission-critical work” during the transition of the two agencies to the Kansas City region, a top-ranking science official told the Senate Agriculture Committee today.

Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue tried to sell the Kansas City region as an attractive new home for employees of the Economic Research Service and National Institute of Food and Agriculture at an “all-hands” meeting Thursday to brief those agencies’ employees. But some weren’t buying it.

President Donald Trump’s nominee to become USDA’s top scientist assured senators he accepts the scientific consensus on climate change and said more research is needed to help U.S. agriculture adapt.

Farm bill negotiators are looking to wrap up talks that have become embroiled in a debate over forest management as well as longstanding issues such as eligibility rules for commodity programs.