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USDA shuts down southern border ports again to livestock imports from Mexico

U.S. Ag Secretary Brooke Rollins has again closed southern border ports to livestock imports from Mexico following a new detection of New World screwworm.

Colin Woodall, CEO of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, says the USDA has been monitoring conditions on the ground, and the decision was made to protect American agriculture. “A new case that is further north in the state of Veracruz,” he says.  “Which means that the New World screwworm flies are continuing their northward incursion, and so that is what she needed to make the decision to shut down the ports.”

The latest case was reported 160 miles north of the current sterile fly dispersal grid and is just 370 miles south of the U.S./Mexico border.

Secretary Rollins says the southern ports will remain closed until additional progress is made in combating NWS in Veracruz and other Mexican states.

Woodall tells Brownfield this continues to be her tool to show the Mexican government that it can’t just be committed to this on the southern border.  “You have to be committed to this across the entire country,” he says. “So, I think that’s a very clear signal that the Mexican government should be receiving here.”

He says it’s a balancing act for the industry. “She knows that there is an economic impact in closing that border,” he says.  “But at the same time, she wants to do everything possible to try to mitigate the threat of new world screw worm and try to protect all of us as US producers.”

AUDIO: Colin Woodall, NCBA

R-CALF USA CEO Bill Bullard says the closing of the southern ports was essential.  He says the Secretary’s move will protect the health of the U.S. cattle herd and the integrity of the nation’s food supply. 

The USDA recently announced a risk-based phased reopening of ports along the southern border for cattle, bison, and equine from Mexico that began this week.  The department says it will continue to conduct site visits throughout Mexico to ensure the government has adequate protocols and surveillance in place to combat the pest effectively.