This past week, Executive Vice President of the Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, Michael Kelsey, was one of four commodity group leaders from Oklahoma who had the chance to dialogue with USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins when she was in Oklahoma City for an Energy Summit. In addition to those leaders- Rodd Moesel represented Farm Bureau- one of the general farm organizations in the state.
On Saturday, Oklahoma Farm Report’s Ron Hays talked with Kelsey about that meeting and the followup comments from Rollins that included a letter she has sent to her Mexican counterpart.
Last week when Brooke Rollins was in Oklahoma City, Kelsey took the opportunity to ask the Secretary about New World Screwworm. “She was fully engaged, completely aware and knowledgeable and even able to share a lot of the strategies that they are looking- including what we saw today- this strongly yet very appropriately worded letter that indicates we want to cooperate but Mexico you have to do your part regarding control measures for New World Screwworm.”
Hays and Kelsey talked about the challenges of getting enough sterile flies into the area of Southern Mexico where the screwworm is currently active. Secretary Rollins is demanding Mexico cooperate with the effort to bring supplies of the sterile flies into Mexico and in her letter released on Saturday– she threatened to cut off imports of cattle from Mexico into the US if they fail to fully cooperate- the deadline she mentioned is Wednesday, April 30th.
According to the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association’s Ethan Lane- the Mexicans need to do better. Unfortunately, Mexican authorities have failed to uphold their end of the agreement by disrupting planes carrying these sterile male files, refusing pilots permission to land, and instituting customs duties on flight components, sterile flies, and sterile insect technique equipment.
“We have received multiple reports that critical flights carrying these sterile flies have been denied permission to land, faced bogus paperwork issues, and been charged high customs fees. As a result, we have lost significant time and investment that has allowed these dangerous pests to spread unchecked into southern Mexico,” said NCBA Senior Vice President of Government Affairs Ethan Lane. “In light of those reports, NCBA met with the Mexican Embassy earlier this week to deliver the message that the Mexican government needs to be a partner on eradicating screwworms to protect both animal and human health. It’s time for Mexican authorities to act and we appreciate Secretary Rollins standing with American and Mexican cattle producers who want to see this pest stopped dead in its tracks.”
Kelsey emphasized the importance of keeping the New World Screwworm as far away from the US border as possible- and mentioned that he had brought up to Secretary Rollins the need to establish a facility that could produce the sterile flies in the United States- saying that she agreed with that.
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