Setback for USDA Research?

ScienceInsider reports that the Obama Administration will nominate as the head of the U.S. Agency for International Development Dr. Rajiv Shah, formerly with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, has international development experience and would likely make a good administrator for USAID.

The problem is that Dr. Shah has served since this summer as the Under Secretary for Research, Education and Economics and Chief Scientist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  I find it unlikely that he will serve in both departments, though he might wear all three hats until a replacement for his current position will be found and confirmed.  While the National Institute of Food and Agriculture has been launched since Dr. Shah was confirmed, I was hoping that this would be the first of many steps he would take in making agricultural research a more significant component of U.S. science and technology policy.