The U.S. cattle industry is facing a crisis on multiple fronts — record-low cattle inventories, a flesh-eating parasite threatening imports, and rising diesel and fertilizer costs that are squeezing farmers across the heartland.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., told Newsmax the screwworm outbreak near the Texas-Mexico border has forced restrictions on cattle imports just as American ranchers face the lowest cattle herd in decades.
“Right now we’re missing about one-thirteenth of our supply of cattle,” Marshall said Monday on Newsmax’s “Wake Up America.”
“The lowest cattle herd we’ve ever had in my lifetime anyway, mainly due to the drought.”
The United States typically imports about 1 million live cattle from Mexico annually — a significant share of supply for American feedlots. But the New World screwworm, a parasite that lays eggs in open wounds of livestock with larvae feeding on living tissue, has prompted U.S. officials to halt the flow across the southern border.
Marshall expressed confidence the outbreak can be contained, noting the U.S. successfully eradicated the pest in 1966. Agriculture officials are deploying a proven strategy: releasing sterile male screwworm flies to prevent reproduction.
“We’ve been through this before,” Marshall said. “The good news is we’ve got great treatments for this.”
Facilities in Central America are already producing the sterile insects, while additional production capacity is being developed in Texas and Mexico, the senator said.
Beyond the screwworm threat, Marshall pointed to rising input costs as the biggest challenge facing rural America right now.
“I think the biggest challenge right now in farmland and rural America are the input costs, fertilizers, and it’s also the price of diesel as well,” he said.
Marshall credited President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans with providing billions of dollars for crop insurance, farm protection programs, tax relief, and rural healthcare initiatives.
“This president has done more for agricultural America than any president I’ve ever seen.”
Still, Marshall acknowledged additional support may be necessary.
“We’re going to have to look at some more money to help them get through this trial because of the fertilizer prices,” he said.
The Kansas Republican also urged Congress to approve year-round sales of E15 gasoline, saying the move would boost demand for American corn without costing taxpayers additional money.
