Even as the cattle industry is watching the northward movement of the New World Screwworm, Uncle Sam and the industry as a whole is ramping up its defense against the pest with a combination of new production facilities and innovative genetic technology, according to Sigrid Johannes of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association. In this latest edition of the Beef Buzz, Senior Farm and Ranch Broadcaster Ron Hays features more of her comments from the webinar produced by the NCBA this week. Listen to part one of this conversation from the April 15th Beef Buzz- available here.
Johannes outlined the current status of sterile fly production efforts designed to combat the advancing New World Screwworm that re-emerged in Central America in June 2021, breaking through barriers in Panama and spreading rapidly northward to reach Mexico by late 2024. The latest number of animals infested with the larvae and considered to be active cases in Mexico has hit 1295 as of April 16th.
Three-Facility Strategy Taking Shape
The defense strategy centers on three key sterile fly production facilities. The COPEG facility is currently operational, while the Metapa facility is expected to come online within months. A third facility in Moore, South Texas, remains 12 to 18 months away from production but promises to be the largest and most capable when completed in 2027.
“That’s going to give us a really powerful inventory, a really high inventory of sterile insects to work with, certainly enough to cover that 300 to 400 million figure for covering the entirety of our border with Mexico,” Johannes explained.
The South Texas facility represents a massive undertaking, requiring an estimated 400 employees and significant infrastructure investment. Johannes noted that sterile fly production is “very space-intensive, water-intensive, they take a lot of power, they smell really terrible so it’s hard to locate them near residential areas.”
Modular Units Take Backseat to Major Facilities
While modular production units housed in biosecure trailers generated interest as a potential stopgap measure, Johannes clarified that USDA resources are now focused primarily on the large-scale South Texas facility rather than the smaller modular approach.
“Nobody is counting on those to produce a significant number of flies anymore,” she said, noting that while the technology remains worth investigating, it cannot match the scale and timing needed for current threats.
Revolutionary NovoFly Technology Shows Promise
Perhaps the most significant development is USDA’s Agricultural Research Service work on “NovoFly,” a genetically modified sterile fly technology currently under EPA review for approval.
The innovation addresses a key inefficiency in current sterile fly programs. Traditional methods produce equal numbers of male and female sterile flies, but only males effectively suppress wild populations since females mate only once while males can mate multiple times.
NovoFly flies contain a protein that kills female flies after release, effectively doubling the efficiency of each batch. “From that 200 million batch, I’m left with 100 million flies—the same amount that I was going to release into the environment before—but now they are all male, and they are all sterilized,” Johannes explained.
This technology could double the effectiveness of sterile fly releases, representing a significant advancement in screwworm control capabilities as the industry prepares for potential northward migration of the pest.
The EPA comment period for NovoFly remains open for approximately two more weeks, with cattle organizations encouraged to participate in the review process.
The Beef Buzz is a regular feature heard on radio stations around the region on the Radio Oklahoma Ag Network and is a regular audio feature found on this website as well. Click on the LISTEN BAR above for today’s show and check out our archives for older Beef Buzz shows covering the gamut of the beef cattle industry today.
