Today in Austin, Texas, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott hosted a press conference announcing new strategies to stop the spread New World screwworm.
“We will continue to take all 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,” Rollins says.
I’m in Texas today as we continue to aggressively address the serious New World Screwworm threat endangering our American livestock industry and our nation’s national security. @USDA is announcing a historic investment to STOP screwworm in its tracks — with 5 pillars of action:… pic.twitter.com/ukcWSSamcZ
— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) August 15, 2025
Rollins shared five pillars of action to help keep NWS out of Texas and the U.S.:
1. Innovate to Eradicate — Investment in new tech, traps and treatments
Rollins plans to allocate up to $100 million to develop cutting-edge technologies to accelerate the country’s response.
While sterile flies are currently the most effective way to prevent the spread of NWS, technology continues to evolve and as such USDA will provide up to $100 million to invest in viable innovations which could show rapid advancement of promising technologies that will augment the U.S. 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 U.S., and any other tools to bolster preparedness or response to NWS.
“I’m 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 says.
2. Build Domestic Production
She announced the plan to invest $750 million to build a domestic sterile fly production facility in Edinburg, Texas, which will be capable of producing 300 million sterile screwworm flies per week. This facility will be located 20 miles from the southern border and near the Moore Air Base in Texas.
Once complete, the facility will triple current fly output and reduce reliance on Panama and Mexico for sterile fly production. Rollins says it will also create 300 jobs in Texas.
Prior to this announcement, the USDA committed Moore Airfield Base as a dispersal facility for sterile NWS flies, which was to be completed at the end of the year. While NWS can be treated, the only proven method for eradication is releasing sterile male flies to mate with wild females collapsing the population over time.
The only sterile fly facility in the world is COPEG in Pacora, Panamá which is currently operating at full capacity, producing 115 million flies per week. The U.S. owned a facility in Chiapas during the NWS outbreak in the 1960s but it has since been closed.
3. Border Defense — Wildlife Migration Prevention
Animals don’t know borders, and that leaves the U.S potentially vulnerable to NWS from wildlife migrating across the border. USDA is working aggressively 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 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 U.S.-Mexico border.
Rollins explains the tick riders, mounted on horseback, will provide the first line of defense against a NWS outbreak along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Next stop: the Texas-Mexico Border, where I rode along the Rio Grande with @USDA Cattle Fever Tick Cowboys!🇺🇸
— Secretary Brooke Rollins (@SecRollins) June 18, 2025
This dedicated team patrols the border every day to stop the spread of cattle fever ticks and protect our livestock. Their vigilance is essential to also keeping the… pic.twitter.com/2sdryZAYQg
USDA will also begin training detector dogs to detect screwworm infestations in livestock and other animals along our border and at various ports of entry. These dogs will be essential to help control the spread of the NWS. USDA is working closely with the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S Customs and Border Protection to monitor the border for NWS-infected wildlife that could pose a threat to the U.S.
“We’re also training our beagles on the beagle brigade, to detect screwworm infections, and we will be significantly ramping up our border surveillance program with those and others,” she says.
4. Partner with Mexico – Contain the pest before it reaches our border by enhancing collaboration
- Boost surveillance and training
- Halt animal movement in affected zones
- Improve real-time tracking and response
“We are working directly with Mexico, perhaps in a way never seen before,” Rollins says.
5. Work with our partners in federal, state, and private sector — Educate consumers and protect the U.S. food supply chain
“Once eradicated in the United States decades ago, [NWS] has now reemerged dangerously close to our Southern border — closest to Texas, but also waging a war with our friends in Arizona and New Mexico as well,” Rollins summarizes. “Its peril is not just in the cause, but because it endangers the livelihood of our livestock. It endangers our livestock industry, and it threatens the stability of beef prices for consumers across America. It’s a dinner table issue, as Governor Abbott mentioned, and one that affects every American home and community — directly affecting the cost of groceries and therefore the cost of living. All Americans should be concerned.”
The National Cattlemen’s Beef Association announced continued support for USDA’s aggressive plan.
“American cattle producers commend President Trump and Secretary Rollins for their swift action in combating the spread of New World screwworm. Their leadership and diligence, along with USDA’s collaboration with Texas in building sterile fly production and distribution facilities at Moore Air Base, marks a critical step in stopping the spread of screwworm and protecting the American cattle herd,” says NCBA CEO Colin Woodall. “Today’s announcement of rapid construction of sterile fly facilities, that will boost weekly output of flies to more than 300 million, is vital news for U.S. cattle producers. Producing flies domestically under American oversight will overcome supply challenges in Mexico and Central America — strengthening our fight against New World screwworm and protecting herds on both sides of the border.”
During the question and answer session, Rollins said the ports for Mexican cattle will remain closed until the NWS threat is controlled.
“We’ve been very clear to them over and over again that those ports don’t open until we begin to push the screwworm back,” Rollins says.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller was at the announcement in Austin.
“I was pleased to welcome my friend U.S Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins back to Texas and applaud her continued commitment to fight the New World Screwworm threat that puts our state’s $30 billion livestock industry in jeopardy,” he says. “Her announcement about USDA’s plans to construct a new sterile fly production facility in South Texas was welcome news. When completed, it should serve as an important tool in our battle against the screwworm.”
Miller and Rollins have worked together to fight NWS the last six months.
“The Texas Department of Agriculture and I will continue to work side-by-side with Secretary Rollins to develop the tools necessary to combat this insidious threat and protect our agriculture industry and all who depend upon it.”
