To stop a flesh-eating cattle parasite in Mexico from crossing the border, the U.S. will build a $750 million factory that breeds sterile flies
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U.S. officials worry that if the fly reaches Texas, its flesh-eating maggots could cause billions of dollars in losses and cause already record beef prices to rise even more.
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August 16, 2025
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Economy·MexicoTo stop a flesh-eating cattle parasite in Mexico from crossing the border, the U.S. will build a $750 million factory that breeds sterile fliesBy John HannaBy The Associated PressBy John HannaBy The Associated Press Cowboys push a cow out of its spot to a veterinarian inspection at a ranch that exports stock to the U.S., in Zamora, northern Mexico, on July 28.Fernando Llano—AP PhotoThe U.S. plans to build a $750 million factory in southern Texas to breed billions of sterile flies, ramping up its efforts to keep flesh-eating maggots in Mexico from crossing the border and damaging the American cattle industry
Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Friday that the U.S
Department of Agriculture hopes to be ducing and releasing sterile male New World screwworm flies into the wild within a year from the new factory on Moore Air Base outside Edinburg, Texas, 20 miles (32 kilometers) from the border
She also said the USDA plans to deploy $100 million in nology, such as fly traps and lures, and step up border patrols by “tick riders” mounted on horseback and train dogs to sniff out the parasite
In addition, Rollins said the U.S. border will remain closed to cattle, horse and bison imports from Mexico until the U.S. sees that the pest is being pushed back south toward Panama, where the fly had been contained through late last year through the breeding of sterile flies there
The U.S. has closed its border to those imports three times in the past eight months, the last in July, ing a report of an infestation 370 miles (595 kilometers) from the Texas border
American officials worry that if the fly reaches Texas, its flesh-eating maggots could cause billions of dollars in economic losses and cause already record retail beef prices to rise even more, fueling greater inflation
The parasite also can infest wildlife, household pets and, occasionally, humans. “Farm security is national security,” Rollins said during a news conference at the Texas State Capitol in Austin with Texas Gov
Greg Abbott. “All Americans should be concerned
But it’s certainly Texas and our border and stock ducing states that are on the front lines of this every day.” The pest was a blem for the American cattle industry for decades until the U.S. largely eradicated it in the 1970s by breeding and releasing sterile male flies to breed with wild females
It shut down fly factories on U.S. soil afterward
The Mexican cattle industry has been hit hard by infestations and the U.S. closing its border to imports
Mexico’s Agriculture ministry said in a statement Friday that Mexico Agriculture and Rural Development Secretary Julio Berdegué Sacristán and Rollins signed a screwworm control action plan
It includes monitoring with fly-attracting traps and establishing that stock can only be moved within Mexico through government-certified corrals, the statement said
And on the X social media platform, Berdegué said, “We will continue with conversations that lead to actions that will permit the reopening of stock exports.” The new fly-breeding factory in Texas would be the first on U.S. soil in decades and represents a ramping up of the USDA’s spending on breeding and releasing sterile New World screwworm flies
The sterile males are released in large enough numbers that wild females can’t help but mate with them, ducing sterile eggs that don’t hatch
Eventually, the wild fly population shrinks away because females mate only once in their weekslong s
In June, Rollins announced a plan to convert an existing factory for breeding fruit flies into one for breeding sterile New World Screwworm flies, as well as a plan to build a site, also on the air base near Edinburg, for gathering flies imported from Panama and releasing them from small aircraft
Those jects are expected to cost a total of $29.5 million
The Panama fly factory can breed up to 117 million flies a week, and the new Mexican fly factory is expected to duce up to 100 million more a week
Rollins said the new Texas factory would duce up to 300 million a week
She said President Donald Trump’s administration wants to end the U.S. reliance on fly breeding in Mexico and Panama. “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 said
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