Texas Wants to Speed Up a $750 Million Fly Factory to Fight a Flesh-Eating Cattle Parasite

Texas is now dealing with one of the strangest-sounding emergency responses in the country: a massive fly-breeding factory.

But there is a serious reason behind it.

State and federal officials are trying to stop New World screwworm, a flesh-eating parasite that has now been confirmed in South Texas calves. The pest can infest livestock, wildlife, pets, and other warm-blooded animals by laying eggs in wounds. When the larvae hatch, they feed on living tissue.

That is why Texas leaders are paying close attention to a planned sterile fly production facility near Edinburg.

According to the Associated Press, Gov. Greg Abbott is pushing to speed up construction of a $750 million fly-breeding facility because the site is not expected to begin producing sterile New World screwworm flies for more than a year.

On paper, “fly factory” sounds almost unbelievable. In practice, it is one of the main tools officials have to fight screwworm.

The idea is to breed large numbers of sterile male flies and release them into areas where screwworm could spread. When sterile males mate with wild females, the eggs do not survive. Over time, that can crash the population and keep the parasite from establishing itself.

It is not a new idea. Sterile fly releases were a major part of how the United States eradicated screwworm decades ago. But now that the parasite has been detected again in Texas, officials are trying to rebuild enough capacity to respond quickly.

The USDA and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers broke ground on the new sterile fly production facility at Moore Air Base in Edinburg in April. USDA said the facility is meant to expand domestic sterile fly production capacity and protect livestock, wildlife, and public health.

That project already sounded important before the latest Texas detections. Now it feels urgent.

Reuters reported that a second screwworm case has been confirmed in Texas, involving a one-month-old calf in Zavala County about 5.6 miles from the first confirmed case.

For ranchers, the concern is not hard to understand.

Texas has the largest cattle industry in the country. A parasite that attacks living tissue can create animal suffering, expensive veterinary problems, quarantines, inspections, and uncertainty for producers. Even if officials contain the current cases, ranchers are now being told to watch animals closely and report anything suspicious.

Abbott has also declared a state disaster tied to the screwworm threat. The Houston Chronicle reported that Abbott warned Texas could face an “extraordinarily challenging summer” as officials work to contain the parasite.

The factory timeline is the part getting political attention.

A facility that can produce hundreds of millions of sterile flies each week could become a major defensive tool, but it does not help much if the worst of the outbreak pressure arrives before production begins. That is why Abbott is calling for a faster buildout and has suggested Texas may use state resources to move the project along more quickly.

The response also includes surveillance, fly traps, quarantine measures, and animal checks. But sterile fly production is the piece that sounds the strangest to people outside the livestock world.

Texas is not trying to breed flies because flies are the problem. Texas is trying to breed the right kind of flies because they can prevent the dangerous ones from multiplying.

That detail is what makes this story so unusual.

A flesh-eating parasite has returned to Texas after decades away, and part of the emergency plan involves a giant facility designed to produce sterile insects around the clock.

For most Texans, that sounds like something from a science fiction plot. For ranchers in South Texas, it may be one of the most important defenses they have.