Investing.com — The United States and Mexico have opened a new facility in southern Mexico to produce sterile flies aimed at stopping the spread of the New World screwworm, Bloomberg reported on Saturday, as the livestock pest continues to threaten cattle herds across North America.
Located in Metapa near Mexico’s southern border, the facility is expected to produce up to 100 million sterile flies per week once it reaches full capacity. Combined with an existing plant in Panama, weekly production will rise to about 200 million flies, with additional facilities planned to further increase output.
The sterile insect technique, which helped eradicate the screwworm from North America decades ago, works by releasing sterilized male flies that mate with wild females, preventing new generations of the parasite from emerging.
The opening comes as the screwworm has re-emerged as a major threat to the U.S. livestock industry. The parasite’s larvae infest wounds on warm-blooded animals, and thousands of infections have been reported in Mexico since 2024. Earlier this month, U.S. authorities confirmed the first infections in domestic livestock in roughly 50 years.
U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the two countries had successfully eliminated the pest before and expressed confidence that the latest effort would do so again.
U.S. Ambassador Ronald Johnson also announced an additional $84 million in funding to contain the outbreak, warning that a widespread infestation could cost the U.S. agriculture sector more than $700 million annually.The Metapa facility is expected to begin producing 30 million sterile pupae per week in July before increasing output to 60 million in August and reaching its full capacity of 100 million by November. The insects will be distributed by air across affected regions in both the United States and Mexico.
The United States is also constructing a separate sterile fly production facility in Texas, although it is not expected to begin operations until late 2027.
The joint initiative comes as Washington and Mexico City continue broader cooperation on agricultural and cross-border issues, including efforts to protect livestock production and maintain agricultural trade between the two countries.
