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Nebraska ag director highlights path to resuming live cattle imports from Mexico

The Nebraska director of agriculture says there are several things that need to happen before the U.S. can resume importing live cattle from Mexico.  

Sherry Vinton says one of those is getting the sterile fly production facility online to help combat the northward movement of the New World screwworm. “They are getting that up and running again and at some point and time the border will open again. It’s still going to be some time but they are making a good effort and cooperating with USDA on the ground.”

Vinton recently participated in a with USDA and other officials and says she met with Mexico’s animal health safety agency SENASICA. “They are taking this very seriously and have a very detail plan that they have crafted. They have a war room where they can look in real time at detections.”

She tells Brownfield, “And, they’ve got staff in the field that are properly identifying and diagnosing the screwworm. They are making a sincere effort to get a handle on this.”

USDA Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins says both governments had a productive conversation about how they will work together to eradicate the pest. She said they also conducted a joint review of the NWS response. The trade mission was also led by Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Luke Lindberg, Undersecretary for Marketing and Regulator Affairs Dudley Hoskins and other state directors of agriculture.

Sherry Vinton: