NCBA executive says a domestic New World screwworm sterile fly production facility in the U.S. is urgently needed
DENVER, CO – The CEO of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA) says a domestic New World screwworm sterile fly production facility is urgently needed.
Colin Woodall told Brownfield Ag News the northward movement of the pest in Mexico is evidence that the current efforts aren’t enough. “The only facility that is producing sterile New World screwworm flies is the Copiague facility down in Panama,” he says. “They’re producing about 117 million a week, and right now, all 117 million are being dispersed.”
The USDA has allocated funds to Mexico to help the country convert a fruit fly facility to a New World screwworm sterile fly facility. But he says it isn’t expected to come online until July of 2026. “And even when that happens, it’s only going to be another 70 to 100 million flies,” he says. “We believe that if we have a further northern incursion, it’s going to take anywhere from 400 to 500 million a week in order to control it.”
Earlier this year, the USDA announced Moore Air Base in south Texas would be the site of a new sterile fly dispersal facility. Woodall tells Brownfield, “We hope that what we are seeing in her (USDA Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins) action just helps further expedite the construction of that facility to get it online and moving.”
Last week, just two days after the southern port in Douglas, Arizona, was reopened as part of a phased effort to resume livestock imports in Mexico, Ag Secretary Rollins closed the port following a new case of New World screwworm in the state of Veracruz, Mexico.
The detection is 160 miles north of the current sterile fly dispersal grid and is just 370 miles south of the U.S./Mexico border.
