Oklahoma Farm Bureau President Stacy Simunek issued the following statement after the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service confirmed the presence of New World screwworm in a bovine in Zavala County, Texas, on June 3.
“With today’s news of the first case of New World screwworm in the United States in decades, this is a time for farmers, ranchers and our entire agriculture community to work together to ensue this pest is contained and eliminated as quickly as possible.
“We urge agricultural producers around our state to learn what an NWS instance on their farm or ranch would look like as we step up our vigilance as an industry to make sure we can mitigate the spread. We know that a proactive approach will help ease the market volatility that we now expect with the discovery of NWS in our country.
“We also want consumers to know that NWS does not present a food safety concern, and that USDA continues to not only monitor the active NWS situation, but also conduct ongoing, regular food inspections to make sure our food supply is safe.
“We thank USDA and Secretary Rollins’ proactive work over the last year to prepare for what we feared was the inevitable arrival of NWS on U.S. soil, and we ask the Trump administration to continue prioritizing our nation’s NWS monitoring and response to ensure this pest is contained and eliminated as quickly as possible.”
