Manhattan should take heed of what happened recently when the USDA decided to relocate some of its offices to the Kansas City region.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture decided announced recently that it would move its Economic Research Service and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture from Washington, D.C., to Kansas City to the delight of leaders in Kansas and Missouri, and to the horror of some employees, who didnt want to leave the nations capital.
Part of the problem in this situation was that the move was pretty sudden, leaving workers without much time to decide whether to go. But its important that the USDA not lose skilled scientists, who may be harder to attract in the Midwest. If the department cant replace those people, it would lose clout and diminish its effectiveness.