Dear Secretary Rollins,

The Entomological Society of America (ESA) is the largest organization in the world serving the professional and scientific needs of entomologists and individuals in related disciplines. Founded in 1889, ESA has nearly 7,000 members affiliated with educational institutions, science agencies, private industry, and government. ESA appreciates the opportunity to respond to the proposed USDA Reorganization Plan and writes today to express our opposition to any proposal that would result in the closure or downsizing of Agricultural Research Service (ARS) laboratories. 

The ARS laboratory network plays a critical role in providing public support for agricultural research in the United States.  These labs conduct research for the public good, which helps to drive innovation, bring new ideas to market and improve existing technologies, and support farmers, ranchers, and producers across this country.  These scientists also address critical issues such as insecticide resistance, invasive species, food security, pollinator health, and other issues affecting growers in a multidisciplinary way.  The network of ARS labs across the country currently work to address local geographic needs in addition to supporting the broader agricultural research priorities of the nation. 

This year, commercial beekeepers across the U.S. saw more than 60% of their bees die over the winter, an alarmingly high number since this data first started being collected in 2007. Pollinators, including honey bees, contribute to the production of almost three-quarters of global crop types—especially fruits, vegetables, and nuts. The global economic value of pollination services is estimated to exceed $235 billion annually. Research to understand and promote honey bee health plays a critical role in helping commercial beekeepers across the US, many of whom are small business owners, as well as farmers and producers. 

The USDA Beltsville Agricultural Research Center (BARC) Bee Research Laboratory (BRL) plays a key role in helping beekeepers manage, support, and improve the health of bees across the United States. The six labs that make up this cooperative research group at BARC provide free diagnostic services to beekeepers, analyzing bees, broods, and honeycombs to understand what is happening when bees get sick or die. This year alone, thousands of samples were studied to understand the enormous overwinter die off, and findings from that work are helping beekeepers be better prepared for next year.    

The USDA reorganization proposes moving research out of the Washington, DC area. We applaud the Administration’s goal of saving money and increasing efficiency. However, splitting up the labs to distribute them across the U.S. will have the opposite effect.  Instead, it will take the centuries of collective expertise the various scientists bring to their work away from the collaborative environment that has facilitated such robust productivity and remove their access to the world-class microscopy and core facilities at BARC that enable them to do the work in a cost-effective and rapid manner.  ESA is sympathetic to the fact that Congress has failed to provide for sufficient upkeep of many of the BARC properties, but any cost savings would be dwarfed by the loss of productivity, expertise, and collaboration which support our national agricultural biosecurity. 

Furthermore, collaboration with the nearby University of Maryland in College Park enables multigenerational training and knowledge transfer, the loss of which will hinder, not help, scientific progress. Finally, trying to compel people to uproot their lives and move across the country to work in a less productive environment means USDA is more likely to lose generations of talent, because we have already seen how this experiment played out when USDA relocated the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) and Economic Research Service (ERS) to Kansas City. Those agencies still haven’t fully recovered as you certainly are aware.  And at the end of the day, the impacts of this will be borne directly by the producers these scientists dedicate their lives to trying to help.

We would welcome the opportunity to discuss these concerns further and offer any input that may assist in helping rethink ways to improve cost savings and efficiency while also protecting the integrity of ARS research. If you have additional questions, please don’t hesitate to contact Erin Cadwalader, Ph.D., ESA Director of Strategic Leadership and Policy, at ecadwalader@entsoc.org. Certainly, we all want the same outcome, protecting America’s agricultural security and research enterprise. Thank you for your attention to this critical matter.  ESA thanks you again for the opportunity to weigh in on this issue.

Best Regards,

Christopher J. Stelzig, CAE

Executive Director
Entomological Society of America