Subject: Re: USDA moving out of DC
Put the people ostensibly in charge of talking to farmers near the...farmers.

This statement proves you do not have a clue about the USDA. The USDA people who "talk to the farmers" are already in the field. Much of the bureaucracy is (or was) in DC because it provides a centralized location for all the NON-FARMERS (i.e. corporations) with which the USDA has to deal.

Now, given the NON-CENTRALIZED USDA bureaucracy, all those NON-FARMERS will have to place people in EACH area where the branches are being relocated. That just RAISED THE COSTS of those NON-FARMERS quite substantially.

Let's do the same thing for ALL the other federal depts. After all, you have already stated you ARE willing to "pay the price"--whatever it will be.