Milling & Baking News - February 25, 2020 - 38

Washington

Administration proposes 27% budget
cut for E.R.S. even after move
Continued from Page 1

U.S.D.A.'s administrative decision to
relocate the bulk of the E.R.S. workforce
from Washington to Kansas City.
As background to the relocation,
President Trump's fiscal 2019 budget released in January 2018 had called for a
48% reduction in funding for the agency.
While Congress rejected the cut, the proposal sent tremors throughout the E.R.S.
workforce and marked the beginning of
an exodus of research economists from
the agency, said Laura Dodson, vicepresident of Local 3403 of the American
Federation of Government Employees,
the bargaining unit representing E.R.S.
employees.
"Our agency has been budgeted for 330
employees, and in January 2018, we were
staffed at about 320 or so," Ms. Dodson
said. "By the time Secretary Perdue in
August 2018 announced we were going
to be relocated outside Washington, D.C.,
we already had lost about 40 staff. By the
time Secretary Perdue announced the
relocation would be to Kansas City, we
were down to around 230 people.
"One-hundred-eighty-one staff were
asked to move to Kansas City, but only
16 did so."
A spokesman for the U.S.D.A. said as
of the pay period ended Feb. 1, 2020, the
E.R.S. had 122 positions occupied compared with the 329 authorized by Congress for fiscal year 2020. This included 40
employees on site in Kansas City, employees in Washington whose relocation dates
were extended, and 66 employees permanently remaining in Washington, D.C.
The K.C. workforce includes the 16
individuals who transferred initially,
a few workers with extended contracts

who more recently transferred, and new
hires.
The president's proposed budget for
fiscal 2021 includes funding to bring the
Kansas City E.R.S. workforce up to 109
through "aggressive recruiting following significant relocation-related attrition." The proposed
budget also provides
for retention of 78 positions in Washington.
The U.S.D.A. proposed
budget envisions, therefore, a total E.R.S. staff
of 187 in fiscal 2021 compared with 122
currently and with funding providing for
329 employees authorized by Congress in
the enacted fiscal 2020 budget.
In the wake of the relocation, some
traditional activities of E.R.S. economists continued. The 66 staff members
remaining in Washington include those
who produce the commodity Outlook
reports as well as the farm income team
and the survey team, Ms. Dodson said.
But E.R.S. research teams were eviscerated having lost most of their members,
Ms. Dodson observed. Most lamentable,
she commented, was the loss of economists with years or even decades of experience, equating to thousands of staff
years, in long-term and specialized agricultural research that cannot be replicated anywhere else.
The president's E.R.S. budget for fiscal 2021 would decrease funding for
research on agricultural markets and
trade, farms, conservation, and agricultural research and development by $11.3
million.
"E.R.S. will discontinue research relative to farm, conservation and trade

Flowers Foods' Stephanie Tillman
to chair American Bakers PAC
WASHINGTON - The American Bakers Association has named Stephanie B.
Tillman as chair of the American Bakers
Political Action Committee (PAC). She
succeeds Stephen R. Avera, retired legal counsel at Flowers Foods, Inc., who
served as chair from 2002-19.
Ms. Tillman took over as chief legal
counsel at Flowers Foods in January. In
her role she is responsible for the Thomasville, Ga.-based company's legal, corporate governance and governmental
affairs. Ms. Tillman joined the company
as a corporate attorney in 1995 and was
38 / February 25, 2020

Milling & Baking News

promoted to vice-president and associate general counsel; vice-president of
compliance and assistant
general counsel; and vicepresident, chief compliance officer and deputy
general counsel.
"Stephanie's experience
and enthusiasm are critical
to help secure the political Tillman
landscape for the baking
sector," said Robb MacKie, president and
chief executive officer of the A.B.A. "Especially during this presidential election

policy, and on returns to investments in
agricultural research and development,"
the U.S.D.A.'s explanatory notes said.
"E.R.S. will also discontinue its annual
estimates of international food security
for low- and middle-income countries
and research on international development that supports this activity. At the
proposed funding level, research and
extramural agreements associated with
special initiatives such as on research
innovations for policy
effectiveness, new energy sources (including bioenergy, renewable energy and shale
oil and gas), local and
regional food markets,
beginning farmers and ranchers, invasive species, and markets for environmental services will be eliminated."
The U.S.D.A. said core capital expenditures, including the Agricultural Resource Management Survey and private
sector commodity data and intelligence,
will be maintained, but there may be a
reduction in the frequency of commodity specific surveys and in the number
of states for which state-level estimates
will be developed.
The U.S.D.A. said the E.R.S. will continue to provide analysis and monthly
newsletters to support participating in
the U.S.D.A.'s Inter-Agency Commodity
Estimate Committees and provide modeling and data related to the U.S.D.A.'s
Agricultural Baseline Projections, but it
will narrow its international research.
The U.S.D.A. also proposed an $8.4
million decrease in funding for research
and analysis on food assistance, nutrition and diet quality, a $2 million decrease in funding for research on rural
prosperity and well-being, and a $2.2
million decrease in funding for food
safety research and analysis. MBN
year, we are fortunate for her strong leadership of American Bakers PAC."
Kelly Knowles, vice-president of political and state affairs at the A.B.A.,
described her time working with Mr.
Avera as "one of the highlights and
great opportunities" of her tenure at the
A.B.A.
"Steve's incredible leadership of
American Bakers PAC is directly responsible for the great success we have
achieved over the last 17 years as the
baking industry has emerged as a leading force in the food industry and business community political arena," Ms.
Knowles said. "While Steve leaves big
shoes to fill, I am thrilled to support
Stephanie Tillman in her new role." MBN
bakingbusiness.com / world-grain.com

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Milling & Baking News - February 25, 2020

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