$750M Texas Fly Facility to Help Eradicate Screwworm for Good

As part of a strategy she referred to as “the most sweeping actions in our country’s history to date” to combat New World Screwworm, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced that the U.S. will build a sterile fly production facility in Edinburg, Texas.

The ag secretary shared the news during a press conference with Texas Governor Greg Abbott on Friday. It follows her announcement in June that the USDA would construct a sterile fly dispersal facility in that region.

“This [production] facility will triple our current output and eliminate our sole reliance on Panama and Mexico for sterile fly supply, putting America first,” Rollins said. “It’s a tactical move that ensures we are prepared and not just reactive, which is to date what we have really been working through.”

The federal government will invest up to $750 million on the production facility, which will be able to produce 300 million sterile flies per week, according to Rollins. “That 300 million additional sterile flies, in addition to what we’re already producing in Panama, in Mexico, should allow us to eradicate and control this forever for the distant future,” she said.

Additional Immediate Actions

Besides the construction of the production facility, Rollins outlined several strategies to combat NWS “in the near future.”

Investment in Cutting-Edge Technologies 

The USDA will apply up to $100 million — in addition to the $750 million — to “identify and deploy cutting-edge technologies” to accelerate its response while construction is underway. “From novel traps and lures to modular sterile fly units, I am calling on the brightest minds in the country to build on our existing tools and help us outpace this pest quickly and in the most innovative way possible,” Rollins said. 

Enhancing Border Surveillance Program 

To combat the migration of infected wildlife across the U.S. border, the agency is “ramping up the hiring of USDA employed mounted patrol officers known as the Tick Riders,” according to Rollins. They will be the “cornerstone of our surveillance program,” she said.

Traditionally, the patrol group’s mission has been to protect U.S. cattle from the cattle fever tick, according to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). 

“The Tick Riders are mounted on horseback and will provide the first line of defense against a New World Screwworm outbreak along the U.S.-Mexico border,” Rollins said. 

Rollins said the beagles of APHIS’ Beagle Brigade are also being trained to detect screwworm infections. 

Collaborating With Mexico

“Because pests don’t care where the border is, we are working directly with Mexico, perhaps in a way never seen before,” Rollins said, adding that she and Julio Bertegue, Mexico’s secretary of agriculture and rural development, are in contact “almost daily on this issue at this point.”

“We are working with Mexico to boost the surveillance training and oversight inside Mexico to ensure real-time tracking and reaction time, while the U.S. works to verify Mexico’s reported results and to help them improve their systems south of the border,” Rollins said.