A general view of the U. S. Department of Agriculture headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 23, 2025. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

By Tom Polansek and Ashitha Shivaprasad

(Reuters) -Seth Meyer, the U.S. Department of Agriculture's chief economist since 2021, will leave the agency to work for the University of Missouri's food and agricultural policy institute, the university said on Tuesday.

Meyer's departure comes after the USDA has lost thousands of research staff to President Donald Trump's effort to shrink the federal government.

Meyer has been the head of the USDA office responsible for assessing crops globally and publishing a monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report that can swing crop prices. The report is considered one of the most influential sources of supply and demand data for agricultural commodities worldwide.

Starting on January 1, Meyer will join the University of Missouri to lead its Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute, according to the university. In a statement from the university, he said the job was an opportunity to support the farm sector with agricultural policy development and to return home to Missouri.

USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins said Meyer made a lasting impact at the agency.

"Secretary Rollins is deeply grateful for Seth Meyer's many years of dedicated service at USDA," she said in a statement.

The USDA suspended the release of key reports, including weekly data on U.S. grain export sales, during the record-long government shutdown that ended this month.

(Reporting by Ashitha Shivaprasad in Bengaluru, Tom Polansek in Chicago and Leah Douglas in Washington; Editing by Leslie Adler)