At the Texas State Capitol on. Aug. 15, 2025, US Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins, alongside Gov. Greg Abbott and stakeholders from across the country, announced the largest initiative yet in the US Department of Agriculture’s plan to combat the New World screwworm. This announcement builds upon the US Department of Agriculture's five-pronged plan issued in June 2025 to combat the northward spread of NWS from Mexico into the United States.

When NWS fly larvae burrow into the flesh of a living animal, they cause serious, often deadly damage to the animal. NWS can infest livestock, pets, wildlife, occasionally birds, and in rare cases, people.

USDA is working alongside the US Food and Drug Administration to encourage animal drug development and prioritize approvals for prevention and treatment of the pest; the US Environmental Protection Agency and the US Department of Energy on new innovations to enhance the United States' ability to combat the pest with technologies, and the US Customs and Border Protection to protect the US border.

As part of its comprehensive approach, USDA is taking the following immediate actions:

1.) Innovation as a pathway to eradication

While sterile flies are currently the most effective way to prevent the spread of NWS, technology continues to evolve. As such, USDA will provide up to $100 million to invest in viable innovations that could show rapid technological advancement to augment the US facility and accelerate the pace of sterile fly production, if proven successful.

USDA will support proven concepts that only require funding to scale and implement, as well as a number of longer-term research projects focused on new sterile NWS production techniques; novel NWS traps and lures; NWS therapeutics that could be stockpiled and used, should NWS reach the United States; and any other tools to bolster preparedness or response to NWS.

2.) Construction of a domestic sterile fly production facility

USDA will construct a sterile fly production facility in Edinburg, Texas, at Moore Air Force Base, an ideal location due to the existing infrastructure and proximity to the United States-Mexico border. Built with the Army Corps of Engineers, the facility will produce up to 300 million sterile flies per week to combat NWS. This will be the only United States-based sterile fly facility and will work in tandem with facilities in Panama and Mexico to help eradicate the pest and protect American agriculture.

This Texas facility complements Panama's facility, production 100 million flies per week, and Mexico's upcoming facility, set to produce 100 million flies per week, to push New World screwworm back toward the Darien Gap.

3.) Wildlife migration prevention

Animals don’t know borders, and that leaves the US potentially vulnerable to NWS from wildlife migrating across the border. USDA is working to ramp up the hiring of USDA-employed mounted patrol officers, known as “tick riders,” and other staff who will focus on border surveillance. The tick riders, who are mounted on horseback, will be complemented by other animal health experts who will patrol the border in vehicles and will provide the first line of defense against an NWS outbreak along the United States-Mexico border.

USDA will also begin training detector dogs to detect screwworm infestations in livestock and other animals along the border and at various ports of entry. USDA finds that these dogs will be essential to help control the spread of the NWS. USDA is working closely with the US Department of the Interior and the US Customs and Border Protection to monitor the border for NWS-infected wildlife that could pose a threat to the United States.

4.) Stop the pest from spreading in Mexico

USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is working in collaboration with the National Service of Agri-Food Health, Safety and Quality in Mexico to help them contain the pest south of the United States border by enhancing United States oversight and surveillance, improving case reporting, locking down animal movement to prevent further spread and providing traps, lures, training and verification of Mexican NWS activities. Successful implementation will inform any future trade decisions impacting cattle movements on the southern border, including the potential reopening of border areas.

5.) Top priority: United States food safety

To date, NWS has not been reported or detected in the United States in animals. USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service inspects animals and carcasses at slaughter, including for NWS to keep the food supply safe.

“We have assessed the information on the ground in Mexico and have determined we must construct an additional sterile fly production facility in the United States to stop the northward advancement of this terrible pest that is threatening American cattle production," Rollins said. "The construction of a domestic sterile fly production facility will ensure the United States continues to lead the way in combating this devastating pest.

"If our ranchers are overrun by foreign pests, then we cannot feed ourselves. USDA and Customs and Border Protection are constantly monitoring our ports of entry to keep NWS away from our borders. We are working every day to ensure our American agricultural industry is safe, secure, and resilient.”

National Cattlemen’s Beef Association CEO Colin Woodall said, “This deadly pest has negatively impacted the cattle industry before but with swift action from Secretary Rollins, we are on our way to stopping it again. USDA’s work in building a sterile fly production facility at Moore Air Base will greatly help to stop the spread of screwworm and protect the American cattle herd for years to come.”

Source: USDA