The markets are ready for the U.S. border to reopen today for shipments of cattle, bison, and equines from Mexico. Imports to the U.S. were shut down in early May on concerns of New World Screwworm.
Today’s reopening is part of a phased plan by the USDA. Right now, the crossing in Douglas, Arizona, poses the lowest risk, according to the Department. Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins says after the crossing reopens in Arizona, the Department will reevaluate to make sure no cases of the disease resurface.
Other parts of the USDA’s plan include reopening the Moore Air Base in South Texas as a sterile fly facility. The U.S. currently has a sterile fly facility in Panama and is retrofitting a facility in Mexico to produce sterile flies. Officials in Texas are dispersing fly traps along the Rio Grande to monitor the pest.
Douglas, Arizona, is just one of five crossings on the calendar to reopen this year. Later this month, crossings in Columbus and Santa Teresa, New Mexico, are set to open. Then, in August, crossings in Del Rio, Texas, are scheduled to resume, and in mid-September, the crossing in Laredo, Texas, could get the all-clear. All of these reopenings are dependent on the current cases of New World Screwworm.
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Expanded aerial capacity strengthens the U.S.–Mexico buffer against screwworm, providing cattle producers with stronger protection heading into winter and reducing risk to herds along the southern tier.
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The facility will increase the range of sterile fly release and bolster preparedness for New World Screwworm.
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