Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins appeared before the Senate Agriculture Committee and the big topic was NWS.
There are six confirmed cases of NWS in the United States, five in Texas and one in New Mexico. NWS is a serious pest that threatens livestock, pets, wildlife, and, in rare cases, people. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins appeared before the Senate Agriculture Committee this week to discuss the priorities of USDA. While several topics were covered, the New World screwworm was at the top of the agenda for border state lawmakers.
Transcript
Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins appeared before the Senate Agriculture Committee this week to discuss the priorities of USDA. While several topics were covered, the New World screwworm was at the top of the agenda for border state lawmakers.
Sen. Ben Ray Lujan, D-New Mexico: “Can I just get your commitment that wherever we see this damn screwworm those states are going to be prioritized cuz now I get what you shared on the dog in NM or whatever but Texas and NM have had it, so is that a commitment from you that wherever this thing starts popping up, that moves those states up to the priority with responses.”
Sec. Brooke Rollins, U.S. Department of Agriculture: “100 percent and that’s been the containment effort. Every model showed it would hit our side of the border for Texas and NM by last summer, so we’ve been able to hold it at bay for a year while we have been building out these facilities and staffing up, but absolutely, and the President has been very clear, this is a non-partisan issue. We’ve got to protect our livestock industry, our hunting industry, etc., so 100 percent.”
Recent Trump administration workforce and funding cuts, spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, reduced the USDA’s overall staff and eliminated essential Central American screwworm monitoring programs. Critics warn these reductions have delayed rapid response and prevention efforts in South Texas.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota: “The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has lost 25% of its staff, including more than 300 employees in veterinary services alone since the administration came in. How do you plan on ensuring that each of these critical threats such as NWS receives individualized resources?
Sec. Brooke Rollins, U.S. Department of Agriculture: “Yes, ma'am, as I mentioned a year and a half ago, there were 10 APHIS employees working full time, total of 10, now we’ve got over 120 so we’ve increased the amount of employees in APHIS working on NWS by a 1,000 percent in the last 14 months, so as you can see we’re prioritizing where the big threats are as we’re working to ensure that we are meeting all of the needs across the country.”
NWS is a serious pest that threatens livestock, pets, wildlife, and, in rare cases, people. The larvae burrow into the living tissue of animals, causing severe wounds, animal suffering, and significant economic losses.
Sen.Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama: “One question about the screwworm, have we opened the border in Mexico either east coast or west coast?”
Sec. Brooke Rollins. U.S. Department of Agriculture: “No, the ports closed for a year and that allowed us to keep it out . I think if we opened any of those ports,we would have had it on our side 8 to 10 months ago.”
Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama: “Are you putting the fly traps, or whatever they are called, all along the border? Where are they?”
Sec. Brooke Rollins, U.S. Department of Agriculture: “They are all along the border. We have a polygon that is adjusted every day, so on Wednesday of last week when the calf with the first confirmed case of the 3-week old calf in La Pryor, Texas, was confirmed, within four hours we’re dropping 8 million sterile flies right on top of that ranch and they have had no other cases. This proves the efficacy of the technology, so yes we are constantly moving based on where the cases are popping up.”
USDA is urging any cattle producer who detects screwworm to report it immediately, saying an infestation is treatable if caught early enough. The pest was eradicated from the U.S. in the late 1960s and is not a threat to food safety according to Secretary Rollins.
For Market to Market, I’m Laurel Bower.
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