USDA Suspends Mexican Livestock Imports Days After Port Reopening

The Agriculture Department said Wednesday evening that the U.S. would be closing the southern border to livestock trade, effective immediately, after reports that New World screwworm has resumed its northward spread.

The announcement came just two days after USDA reopened a single port of entry for Mexican livestock in Douglas, Arizona. It had planned to gradually resume imports through four further ports in the coming months.

In a statement, USDA said that a new case of New World screwworm in Veracruz state, around 160 miles north of where current efforts to disperse sterile flies are concentrated, and just 370 miles south of the U.S. border, warranted additional precautions.

“The United States has promised to be vigilant — and after detecting this new NWS case, we are pausing the planned port reopening[s] to further quarantine and target this deadly pest in Mexico,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said, according to the USDA statement.

The department had planned to reevaluate screwworm case numbers and its geographical spread between each port opening and adjust course accordingly to mitigate risks of transmission from cattle, bison and horse imports.

“Thanks to the aggressive monitoring by USDA staff in the U.S. and in Mexico, we have been able to take quick and decisive action to respond to the spread of this deadly pest,” Rollins added.

Mexican cattle makes up an important part of U.S. beef supply, with the U.S. importing around $1.3 billion in 2024 – its highest volume since 2020. Beef prices are already been reeling from earlier import suspensions, with retail beef prices up more than 16% year-over-year as of early June, according to an Agri-Pulse analysis. 

The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association had praised Rollins’ decision to reopen the southern border to livestock imports and hoped it would ease the economic pain for cattle producers who rely on Mexican feeder cattle for their stocks.

The reopening plan, which was unveiled in late June, received pushback from other parts of the cattle industry, however. R-CALF USA led a letter to Rollins with 18 other signatories urging the secretary to keep the import suspension in place to protect U.S. herds. The U.S., they argued, should maintain the import bans until Mexico has fully eradicated the pest.

Following Wednesday’s announcement, NCBA CEO Colin Woodall commended Rollins’ decision for balancing ” the economic needs of U.S. cattle producers who rely on imports while at the same time protecting the overall U.S. cattle herd.” 

“Unfortunately, screwworm continues to move north through Mexico and it’s clear that the United States needs a sterile fly facility of our own here at home. We cannot wait any longer and we urge USDA to immediately begin work on a sterile fly facility,” Woodall added in a statement. 

Both the U.S. and Mexico are planning to step up their screwworm eradication efforts. Around 90 million sterile flies are being dropped a week, according to correspondence between Rollins and Mexico’s Secretary of Agriculture and Rural Development Julio Berdegué obtained by Agri-Pulse.

Once a planned $8.5 million fly dispersal facility in South Texas has been completed, and a $21 million renovation of a fruit fly production facility in Metapa, Mexico, comes online, an additional 60 to 100 million sterile flies should be available for disbursement weekly.

Past eradication efforts, however, required the production of around 450 million a week, according to Mexico’s Berdegué.

The U.S. is also planning a domestic sterile fly production facility, according to the USDA statement. But the department notes that this facility is still in the “design process.”

“USDA is working on these efforts in lockstep with border states – Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas – as it will take a coordinated approach with federal, state, and local partners to keep this pest at bay and out of the U.S.,” the statement adds.

This article was originally published by Agri-Pulse. Agri-Pulse is a trusted source in Washington, D.C., with the largest editorial team focused on food and farm policy coverage.