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The US plans to build a $750M fly factory in Texas to stop a flesh-eating cattle parasite
The new facility will produce 300 million sterile flies weekly to protect Texas's $15 billion cattle industry from the invasive New World screwworm pest, officials said.
- On August 15, 2025, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins and Texas Governor Greg Abbott announced a $750 million sterile fly production facility in Edinburg, Texas.
- The facility was established to address an invasive fly species that endangers livestock, following its spread from Central America into Mexico near the U.S. southern border.
- The new factory on Moore Air Base will produce up to 300 million sterile male flies weekly, complementing existing factories in Panama and Mexico producing over 200 million combined weekly.
- Rollins described the approach as a strategic step designed to keep them proactive rather than merely responding to threats, while Abbott cautioned that the screwworm infestation could lead to billions in annual losses and devastate Texas’s livestock sector.
- The project aims to prevent further spread, with U.S. ports remaining closed to livestock imports until the pest recedes, while $100 million more will fund advanced monitoring technologies and enhanced border security.
33 Articles
33 Articles
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
The 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 producing and releasing sterile male New World screwworm flies into the wild within a year from the new factory on Moore Air…
U.S. will build sterile fly factory in Texas to stop screwworm from devastating livestock industry
By Berenice Garcia, The Texas Tribune Aug. 15, 2025 “U.S. will build sterile fly factory in Texas to stop screwworm from devastating livestock industry” was first published by The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues. Subscribe to The Y’all — a weekly dispatch about the people, places and policies defining Texas, pro…
USDA to Build Texas Facility to Fight Flesh-Eating Screwworms
USDA to build Texas facility to fight flesh-eating screwworms
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will spend up to $750 million to build a facility in Texas that produces sterile flies to fight the flesh-eating livestock pest New World screwworm, Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Friday.
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