We definitely believe USDA agencies need to better coordinate together (in fact we’ve had a few blogs on it, here’s one), but there is some valid concern that moving NRCS would reduce the Department’s conservation work. Conservation programs are already wildly popular and don’t even come close to being able to meeting farmer demand, so any reduction or diminishment of them would be a great loss. That said, we do not yet know what the implications of the NRCS move will be, so we are withholding judgement at this point. Regarding RD, while there is bound to be some redundancy or appearance of redundancy, the demotion of the Mission Area is not routine efficiency checking – it is a total gutting of the work. RD provides farmers and rural communities with absolutely critical services across the country. As an “office” with an Assistant to the Secretary (not to mention the proposed total cutting of RD’s budget by the President) instead of an Under Secretary, they will be largely unable to do this important work.