USDA Invests $850 Million to Combat Screwworm Threat

U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced on Friday an $850 million investment to keep New World screwworm (NWS) out of the country.

Previously, a sterile fly distribution facility was announced for the Moore Airfield Base in Edinburg, Texas, to be completed by the end of the year. Now, $750 million in federal funding is planned for a domestic sterile fly production facility at the airbase. This facility will have the capability of producing 300 million flies per week.

Another $100 million was allocated to find cutting-edge technologies to help combat the spread of NWS.

Rollins made the announcement along with Texas Governor Greg Abbott at a press conference in Austin.

“We will continue to take all the necessary steps across the entirety of the federal government, working alongside our partners at the state government, and in the local governments, to ensure that we keep this pest — this parasite, and others like it — out of our country that threaten our economy and our way of life,” said Rollins.

Currently, the only sterile fly facility in the world is in Pacora, Panama, and is producing 115 million flies per week.

“Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association cannot overstate the significance of funding a domestic sterile fly production facility. Thank you to Secretary Rollins and the Trump administration for spearheading this effort, and thank you Governor Abbott and the Texas New World Screwworm Response Team for continually positioning Texas for success against the threat of NWS,” said Texas & Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association President Carl Ray Polk Jr.