Innovations To Address New World Screwworm

This is Tim Hammerich of the Ag Information Network with your Farm of the Future Report.

Last week the USDA confirmed the first animal case of the New World Screwworm in the United States. The parasitic fly is a serious pest of livestock and wildlife. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins says the USDA is leading a coordinated One Health response to combat New World Screwworm, and says additional innovative solutions are in the works.

Rollins… “ This morning, we received an update from the US Army Corps of Engineers. The massive facility we're building in Moore, the production facility, we broke ground just a couple of months ago, expecting to reach in the hundreds of millions of additional sterile flies by mid-next year. We are advancing our next generation tools and technologies. Last year, USDA launched our New World Screwworm Grand Challenge, investing up to one hundred million dollars in innovative solutions from the private sector to strengthen eradication efforts and expand sterile fly production. Later this week, we will begin rolling out some of those innovations coming out week by week by week. The US Livestock Insects Research Laboratory here in Kerrville are the teams that developed a novel strain for the sterile New World Screwworm that doubles production output that we will soon be deploying.”

In Mexico and Central America, more than 185,000 NWS cumulative cases have been reported in animals.