Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Saturday that she will have a major announcement next week in the battle against New World screwworm, the flesh-eating pest that has been moving up from Central America through Mexico, forcing the periodic suspension of U.S. livestock imports.
Before the Governor’s Charity Steer Show at the Iowa State Fair, Rollins said she will be in Texas on Aug. 15 to make “probably the biggest announcement to date on New World screwworm and how we forever push it back."
Texas recently reintroduced a 1970s method to control the pest, Swormlure bait, which attracts adult screwworm flies by using synthetic chemicals that mimic fresh wounds and is often combined with insecticides to kill the flies.
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USDA announced July 9 that it was once again closing the border to Mexican livestock after reports that New World screwworm has resumed its northward spread. The announcement came just two days after USDA reopened a single port of entry for Mexican livestock in Douglas, Arizona. It had planned to gradually resume imports through four further ports in the coming months.
Rollins said she’s “been getting an unbelievable amount of pressure from friends all through the world to reopen those ports,” referring to the ports along the U.S-Mexico border.
“We are working with the Mexican government more closely than we ever have,” she added.
Rollins teased the announcement at a press conference where she announced a $152 million investment in 19 rural development projects across Iowa. She was joined by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, Iowa Ag Secretary Mike Naig, and the nominee for USDA undersecretary for rural development, Glen Smith from Atlantic, Iowa.
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