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Today, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins and Lieutenant General William “Butch” Graham, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers commanding general, led the groundbreaking for the new sterile fly production facility at Moore Air Base in Edinburg, Texas. USDA is partnering with USACE to construct this facility, which is a cornerstone of Secretary Rollins’ five-pronged strategy to combat New World Screwworm (NWS), expanding the nation’s domestic capacity to protect livestock, wildlife, and public health from this serious pest.
“Breaking ground on this facility marks a major investment in safeguarding America’s livestock and the producers who feed this nation. This puts NWS sterile fly production in American hands, so we do not have to rely on other countries for the best offensive measure to push screwworm away from our borders,” said Secretary Rollins.
This new state-of-the-art facility will complement USDA’s ongoing production of 100 million sterile flies per week at the Panama-based COPEG facility. USDA has also invested $21 million to support modernization of Mexico’s Metapa, MX facility, expected to be operational in summer 2026.
For more information about New World Screwworm and USDA’s prevention efforts, visit Screwworm.gov.
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