Overview

• The USDA announced an $8.5 million sterile fly dispersal facility at Moore Air Base in Edinburg, Texas, set to open by the end of the year to release infertile male screwworms along the border.
• Officials have earmarked $21 million to convert a fruit fly breeding plant near Mexico’s Guatemala border into a sterile screwworm production site expected by late 2026.
• Recent detections in Oaxaca and Veracruz place screwworm populations just 700 miles from the US border, raising concerns they could reach Texas before summer’s end.
• The plan builds on the US campaign that eradicated screwworms in the 1960s and includes exploring a companion center capable of producing up to 300 million sterile flies weekly.
• Mexican Agriculture Secretary Julio Berdegué praised the joint effort, while US cattle industry groups warn an unchecked outbreak could inflict billions in livestock losses.