The Kansas City Area Development Council and its partners announced that the Kansas City region will become the new home of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). The USDA team is evaluating multiple Class-A office properties in Kansas and Missouri for its 120,000-square-foot space, which will house both agencies and 568 employees.
The agencies should be operating from Kansas City this fall.
The Kansas City region was selected for its existing concentration of USDA employees and operations, the more than 150 federal agencies in the area, proximity to 13 land grant universities and central location in the agricultural heart of the country. This concentration is enhanced by the area’s research capabilities and industry-led initiatives like the KC Animal Health Corridor.
Within 300 miles of Kansas City are 13 land-grant universities, including agriculture research giants Kansas State University and the University of Missouri. That is more than any other U.S. location. The National Bio and Agro Defense Facility, the USDA’s state-of-the-art biocontainment laboratory for the study of diseases threatening the nation’s animal agricultural industries, is opening in Manhattan, Kansas, in 2022.
Kansas City is already home to more than 12 USDA agency operations. More than 5,000 USDA employees and contractors work in Kansas City for operations such as the Office of Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service and the Farm Service Agency. The Kansas City area also boasts 35,000 federal employees and a robust Federal Executive Board serving the metro’s 150 federal agencies.
