Source: U.S. Department of Agriculture | March 11, 2019
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced on Tuesday the initial down-select list of 136 Expressions of Interest received from parties in 35 states vying to become the new homes of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Economic Research Service (ERS) and National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). USDA is following a rigorous site selection process to identify the new locations with involvement from USDA, ERS, and NIFA leadership.
For this initial down-select, USDA applied a set of guiding principles against the Expressions of Interest locations including USDA travel requirements, labor force statistics, work hours most compatible with all USDA office schedules. Sixty-seven Expressions of Interest remain under consideration, including three locations in Texas: College Station, Dallas,
The complete list of Expressions of Interest still under consideration is below.
| State | Location | Applicant(s) |
| AL | Birmingham | City of Birmingham; University of Alabama at Birmingham; Auburn University; Tuskegee University; Alabama A&M University; Economic Development Association of Alabama |
| AL | Shelby County | City of Hoover, Shelby County, 58 INC. – The Nonprofit Economic Coalition of Shelby County, the Birmingham Business Alliance, Alabama Power Company, Harbert Realty Services, and Select Income REIT / RMR Group |
| AR | Arkansas | Arkansas Economic Development Commission |
| AZ | Tempe | Arizona Commerce Authority; Arizona State University and the Arizona Department of Agriculture |
| CO | Aurora | Aurora Economic Development Council |
| CO | Denver | Cottonwood Management Company |
| CO | Denver | Forest City Trust |
| CO | Denver | Metro Denver Economic Development Corporation |
| DE | Newark | University of Delaware |
| FL | Tallahassee | Tallahassee-Leon County |
| GA | Athens-Clarke County | Athens-Clarke County Development Authority and Nichols Land & Investment Company and Georgia Department of Economic Development |
| GA | Griffin Spalding County | Griffin-Spalding Development Authority, Rooker, UGA and Georgia Department of Economic Development |
| IA | Ames | City of Ames and Iowa State University |
| IA | Ankeny | City of Ankeny/ Greater Des Moines Partnership, Cultivation Corridor, and the Iowa Economic Development Authority |
| IA | Ankeny | DRA Properties |
| IA | Des Moines | City of Des Moines; Greater Des Moines Partnership |
| IA | Council Bluffs | Advance Southwest Iowa Corporation; City of Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie County |
| IL | Algonquin | Village of Algonquin |
| IL | Barrington | Village of Barrington; Bourns Inc |
| IL | Des Plaines | City of Des Plaines |
| IL | DuPage County | Economic Development Agency for DuPage County, Illinois |
| IL | Huntley | Village of Huntley |
| IL | Kane County | Kane County |
| IL | Orland Park | Orland Park, State of Illinois, Will County, Illinois Intersect and the Will County Center for Economic Development |
| IL | Schaumburg | Village of Schaumburg |
| IL | Warrenville | NAI Hiffman |
| IN | Multiple | Indiana Economic Development Corporation; AgriNovus Indiana, the Indiana State Department of Agriculture (ISDA) and Purdue University |
| KS and MO | Kansas City | HPI Group |
| KS and MO | Kansas City | 805 Penn |
| KS and MO | Greater Kansas City Region | The Kansas City Area Development Council |
| LA | Baton Rouge | The Baton Rouge Area Chamber (BRAC), along with partners Louisiana Economic Development (LED), Baton Rouge Area Foundation (BRAF), Louisiana Department of Agriculture & Forestry (LDAF), Louisiana State University (LSU), and Southern University and & Mechanical College (SUAM) Agricultural |
| MD | Montgomery County | Montgomery County Economic Development Corporation |
| MD | College Park | University of Maryland College Park |
| MI | East Lansing | Michigan State University, State of Michigan, Capital Region International Airport (LAN), Greater Lansing Convention and Visitors Bureau, Lansing Economic Area Partnership (LEAP), Lansing Regional Chamber of Commerce, Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Michigan Farm Bureau |
| MN | Falcon Heights | Buhl Investors |
| MN | Minneapolis | University of Minnesota, Minneapolis Saint Paul Regional Economic Development Partnership (GREATER MSP), and the Minnesota Food and Agriculture Initiative |
| MN | Shakopee | The Opus Group |
| MO | St. Louis | A consortium of regional leaders across six counties in Missouri and Illinois; State of Missouri and Missouri’s Departments of Agriculture, Economic Development, and Workforce Development, as well as the Missouri Partnership |
| NC | Kannapolis | The North Carolina Research Campus; the city of Kannapolis, Cabarrus and Rowan Counties, and the state of North Carolina |
| NC | Chapel Hill | State Employee Credit Union |
| NC | Research Triangle Region | Wake County, Durham County and Research Triangle Park |
| NE | Lincoln | The Nebraska consortium, led by Governor Pete Ricketts and former USDA Secretary Mike Johanns and including the State of Nebraska, University of Nebraska system, City of Lincoln, Nebraska Innovation Campus Development Corporation, Nebraska Department of Economic Development, Nebraska Department of Agriculture, Nebraska Chamber of Commerce, Lincoln Chamber of Commerce, Omaha Chamber of Commerce, and public and private business |
| NE | Omaha | SPW Partners G and S and CBRE MEGA |
| NY | Greater Rochester | FLX Food and Beverage Consortium is led by Greater Rochester Enterprise, a not-for-profit economic development organization. Members of the Consortium include Cornell University and the Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; the Cornell Agriculture and Technology Farm; Empire State Development; the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets; the New York State Governor’s Office; Rochester Institute of Technology; Tompkins County Area Development; the University of Rochester; and Wegmans Food Markets Inc. |
| OH | Akron | County of Summit |
| OH | Geauga County | Geauga County Department of Development |
| OH | Middlefield Village | Village of Middlefield |
| OH | Twinsburg | City of Twinsburg |
| OH | Streetsboro | City of Streetsboro |
| OH | Portage County | Brimfield Township |
| PA | Hanover Township | Private Citizen |
| SC | Columbia | State of South Carolina (including; South Carolina Department of Commerce, Clemson University, South Carolina Department of Agriculture, and Richland County’s Economic Development Office) |
| TN | Knoxville | University of Tennessee, Knoxville/University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture (UTK/UTIA); University of Tennessee, Martin (UTM); Tennessee State University (TSU); and Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) |
| TN | Memphis | Agricenter International |
| TX | San Marcos | Greater San Marcos Partnership; San Marcos, Hays County and Texas State University |
| TX | College Station | Texas A&M AgriLife Research |
| TX | Dallas | HPI Group |
| UT | Tooele County | Governor’s Office of Economic Development, Tooele County, Tooele City, Utah State University, and the Economic Development Corporation of Utah |
| VA | Charlottesville | University of Virginia Foundation |
| VA | Greene County | County of Greene; Central Virginia Partnership in Economic Development; Virginia Economic Development Partnership; Fried Companies, Inc; Jones Lang LaSalle |
| VA | Madison County | Madis on County; The Lester Group |
| VA | Caroline County | Thompson (Richmond) |
| VA | Caroline County | Caroline County Department of Economic Development |
| VA | Petersburg | Virginia State University and the Petersburg metropolitan region |
| VA | Richmond | The Riverstone Group, LLC |
| VA | Roanoke | Roanoke Regional Partnership |
| WI | Madison | City of Madison, the University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Agricultural & Life Sciences (CALS), University of Wisconsin–Madison Office of University Relations, University Research Park, State of Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, and 910 Mayer, LLC |
Questions regarding the USDA site selection process should be directed to [email protected].