Under Donald Trump and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins, seven cases of New World screwworm have been detected in the U.S., posing a major threat to the agricultural sector, particularly the beef industry. Before screwworm entered the U.S., Rollins warned about the impacts of an outbreak and the devastation it would cause to farmers, ranchers, and the agricultural economy.
Last year, Rollins warned that a screwworm outbreak would “devastate our cattle industry in this country.” Later, she called screwworm a “threat to our homeland.” Then, in August of last year, Rollins admitted that screwworms entering the U.S. could cause beef prices to rise even more, and in the fall called screwworm “terrifying” and said the screwworm outbreaks in the 1950s and 60s “devaste[d] our livestock industry” and that “it took a decade to get over it.”
Now, even as screwworm cases are on the rise, Rollins maintains that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has the flesh-eating pest “under control” and referred to it this week as “just a little pest.”
Last year, the Trump administration decimated the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), which oversees prevention and response efforts related to pests that pose a threat to U.S. agriculture, including the New World screwworm.
Reminder: The agricultural economy is already in turmoil. Trump’s unhinged trade war locked farmers out of their markets, causing family farms to go bankrupt at the fastest pace in five years in 2025, alongside record-high farm debt. Now, Trump’s deadly and costly war with Iran is driving up the costs of diesel and fertilizer. In a survey of more than 5,700 farmers, 70% of farmers said they will not be able to buy the fertilizer they need because it is too expensive, and 94% of respondents said their financial situation has worsened or remained the same since last year.
