"The U.S. Department of Agriculture is building a new $750 million factory nearby for breeding sterile flies, but Rollins said construction on the fly factory won't be done until the end of 2027. The USDA also is spending $21 million to convert a fruit fly breeding facility in far southern Mexico into one for breeding screwworm flies starting this summer."
"The sterile male flies would mate with wild females, who mate only once in their weekslong adult lives. Their eggs, laid in open wounds or on mucous membranes, would then not hatch into the flesh-eating maggots that can infest livestock, wild mammals, household pets and even humans. "It's a real testament to the all hands on deck - federal state and local - the fact that we do not have the pest in our country yet," Rollins said."
A center for dispersing sterile New World screwworm flies opened near Edinburg, Texas on a former Air Force base. The facility enables dispersal of millions of sterile male flies bred in Mexico or Panama across the border region. The U.S. Department of Agriculture is building a new $750 million factory nearby to breed sterile flies, with construction expected to finish by the end of 2027, and is spending $21 million to convert a fruit fly facility in southern Mexico to breed screwworms starting this summer. Sterile males mate with wild females once, preventing eggs from hatching into flesh-eating maggots that can infest livestock, wildlife, pets and humans. The measure follows heavy impacts on the Mexican cattle industry and a U.S. border closure on cattle, bison and horse imports since July; a Tampico facility opened in November but is far south, making the Texas site a short-term gap-filling solution.
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