Hoosier Ag Today 

Hoosier Ag Leaders Pitch Indiana as Potential Home for USDA Employees to Sec. Rollins

Kevin
usda
Senator Jim Banks (R-Ind.) led a delegation of Indiana agriculture leaders from the Indiana State Department of Agriculture, Purdue University, AgriNovus Indiana, Corteva Agriscience, Elanco, and Beck’s Hybrids to meet with USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins. Photo courtesy of Banks’ office.

Indiana ag leaders were in Washington, D.C. Tuesday to meet with Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins. Representatives from AgriNovus, Beck’s, Corteva, Elanco, Purdue University, and the Indiana State Department of Agriculture all visited the USDA headquarters to strengthen the collaboration between Indiana’s ag community and USDA.

“Senator Banks actually coordinated it,” says ISDA Director Don Lamb. “We talked about a lot of things as far as just agriculture in Indiana and what we’re seeing and what we’re thinking and maybe some of the challenges that we’re facing.”

Lamb was grateful for the opportunity to meet with Sec. Rollins to build that relationship between D.C. and Indiana, and they took the opportunity to pitch Indiana as a possible home for more USDA employees.

“USDA has made mention of the possibility of moving parts of the USDA out to other areas of the country besides Washington, D.C., and so part of the goal, too, was also to let her know that if they were ever serious about doing that, and had some people that they’d like to move out of D.C., Indianapolis would sure be a great spot for them to land.”

Lamb says the strong agriculture and agbioscience industry in Indiana makes it the perfect place for them to consider.

“When you start with Purdue in the north and go down to IU in the south, and think about the veterinarian part of that, and then you think about the human health part of that. And then you think about Lilly and Corteva and the FFA National Center, and you’ve got Beck’s Hybrids, a big family-owned business, just so many things that Indianapolis has to offer. Great Convention Center, convention city, and so, who knows if anything can really come of this at this point, or whether it will. But boy, if there’s an opportunity, we might as well be in the mix.”

Hear the full HAT interview with ISDA Director Don Lamb below where we discuss this and the input needed from farmers regarding the new ag web portal for Indiana.