In a sweeping new initiative to safeguard the American cattle industry, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced plans to construct a $750 million facility outside Edinburg, Texas, with the aim of breeding billions of sterile New World screwworm flies. The bold move, revealed by Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins on August 15, 2025, is designed to halt the advance of flesh-eating maggots currently causing devastation in Mexico and threatening to cross into the United States.
The new factory, to be built on Moore Air Base about 20 miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, is expected to begin producing and releasing sterile male flies within a year. According to the Associated Press, Secretary Rollins emphasized the urgency of the project during a news conference at the Texas State Capitol in Austin, standing alongside Texas Governor Greg Abbott. She warned, “Farm security is national security. All Americans should be concerned. But it’s certainly Texas and our border and livestock producing states that are on the front lines of this every day.”
The stakes are high. If the screwworm fly were to breach the Texas border, its flesh-eating maggots could inflict billions of dollars in economic losses on the American livestock industry and drive already record-high retail beef prices even higher, potentially fueling further inflation. The parasite isn’t just a threat to cattle—wildlife, household pets, and even humans are at risk, though human infestations are rare.
The New World screwworm fly, once a scourge of American agriculture, was largely eradicated in the U.S. by the 1970s through the innovative use of sterile insect technique. By breeding and releasing vast numbers of sterile male flies, officials ensured that wild females—who mate only once in their brief weekslong lives—would produce sterile eggs, gradually shrinking the wild population. After this victory, fly factories in the U.S. were shuttered, and the country shifted to relying on facilities in Panama and, more recently, Mexico.
But the threat has returned. In July 2025, an infestation was reported about 370 miles from the Texas border, prompting the U.S. to close its border to cattle, horse, and bison imports from Mexico for the third time in eight months. The border will remain closed, Rollins said, until the pest is pushed back south toward Panama, where containment efforts had previously been successful. “It’s a tactical move that ensures we are prepared and not just reactive, which is today what we have really been working through,” Rollins explained, as reported by the Associated Press.
The USDA’s strategy doesn’t stop at the new factory. Rollins announced an additional $100 million in investments for technology such as fly traps and lures. The department will also ramp up patrols along the border using horseback “tick riders” and train dogs to sniff out the parasite. These measures are part of a comprehensive push to keep the screwworm at bay and protect the nation’s food supply.
The new Texas facility will be the first fly-breeding factory on U.S. soil in decades and is expected to produce up to 300 million sterile flies per week. For comparison, the Panama factory can breed up to 117 million flies weekly, and a newly planned Mexican factory is anticipated to add another 100 million per week. By producing flies domestically, the U.S. hopes to end its reliance on breeding programs in Mexico and Panama, a move that Rollins said is backed by President Donald Trump’s administration.
The economic stakes are enormous. The ongoing screwworm outbreak in Mexico has already contributed to high beef prices in the U.S., and officials fear that an unchecked infestation could have catastrophic consequences for American farmers and consumers alike. The Associated Press notes that the parasite has hit the Mexican cattle industry hard, with the U.S. border closures compounding the pain. Mexico’s Agriculture ministry, in a statement on August 15, said that Agriculture Secretary Julio Berdegué Sacristán and Rollins had signed a screwworm control action plan. This agreement includes increased monitoring with fly-attracting traps and new rules requiring that livestock can only be moved within Mexico through government-certified corrals.
On social media, Berdegué expressed a determination to resolve the crisis, stating, “We will continue with conversations that lead to actions that will permit the reopening of livestock exports.” The collaborative approach aims to restore cross-border trade while ensuring that the screwworm threat is contained and eventually eradicated once again.
The sterile insect technique at the heart of this fight is a marvel of biological control. By flooding the environment with sterile males, wild females are far less likely to reproduce successfully. Over time, the population collapses—a method that proved so effective in the 20th century that it became a model for pest control worldwide. The renewed investment in this technology underscores both its proven track record and the scale of the current threat.
But the new initiative is about more than just flies. The USDA’s plan also calls for a $29.5 million investment to convert an existing fruit fly breeding factory into a screwworm fly facility and to build a new site on the air base near Edinburg for gathering flies imported from Panama and releasing them via small aircraft. These projects, while smaller in scale than the new Texas factory, are vital components of the broader containment strategy.
As the U.S. ramps up its response, the border remains a flashpoint. The closure to cattle, horse, and bison imports has significant economic repercussions for both American and Mexican ranchers, highlighting the interconnectedness of the two nations’ agricultural sectors. Yet, as Rollins and Abbott made clear, the priority is to protect the American herd and prevent the return of a pest that once seemed vanquished.
For Texas ranchers and livestock producers across the border states, the message is clear: vigilance and innovation are essential. The deployment of high-tech traps, trained dogs, and horseback patrols evokes both old-school cowboy grit and cutting-edge science. And while the price tag for the new factory and related measures is steep, officials argue that the cost of inaction would be far greater.
With the first sterile flies expected to be released within a year, the USDA and its partners in Mexico and Panama are racing against time to contain the outbreak before it reaches American soil. The outcome of this battle will have far-reaching implications—not only for the price of beef at the supermarket, but for the security and resilience of the nation’s food supply.
The fight against the screwworm is a reminder that even in an age of global trade and advanced technology, the health of American agriculture can hinge on the smallest of adversaries—and on the willingness of governments to act boldly in defense of the public good.