Washington Roundup – August 2025
By: Lowell Randel
Farm Bill 2.0 on Fall Agenda for Congress
Congress left for August recess after passing the “Big, Beautiful Bill”, which addressed many of the major Farm Bill funding programs. However, due to the Byrd Rule in the Senate, many programs must still be reauthorized, or face expiration at the end of September. Chairman Thompson (R-PA) has dubbed the remaining work as “Farm Bill 2.0”. He estimates that Farm Bill 2.0 should be less controversial and able to garner more bipartisan support than the Big, Beautiful Bill. The chairman has stated his desire to move legislation through the House Agriculture Committee shortly after Congress returns in September. In the Senate, Chairman Boozman has stated that he would like to move a bill this fall, but that the House is positioned to move more quickly than the Senate. For both chambers, finding floor time could be complicated by other legislation needing attention, such as completing the annual appropriations process.
USDA Announces Additional Actions in Response to New World Screwworm
On August 15th, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins announced the latest actions being taken by USDA to combat the New World Screwworm (NWS). This announcement builds upon the department’s five-pronged plan issued in June to combat the northward spread of NWS from Mexico into the United States.
USDA is collaborating with Federal agencies, State governments, and the private sector to address the threat of NWS to domestic industry. USDA and FDA are encouraging animal drug development and prioritizing approvals for prevention and treatment of the pest. USDA is also working with EPA and the Department of Energy on new innovations to combat the pest with technologies, the U.S. Customs and Border Protection to protect the United States border, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on detecting, preventing, and managing potential human cases.
As part of this approach, USDA is taking the following immediate actions:
1.) Innovate Our Way to Eradication
While sterile flies are currently the most effective way to prevent the spread of NWS, technology continues to evolve and as such USDA will provide up to $100 million to invest in viable innovations which could show rapid advancement of promising technologies that will augment the United States facility and accelerate the pace of sterile fly production if proven successful. USDA will support proven concepts that only require funding to scale and implement as well as a number of longer-term research projects focused on: new sterile NWS production techniques, novel NWS traps and lures, NWS therapeutics that could be stockpiled and used should NWS reach the United States, and any other tools to bolster preparedness or response to NWS.
2.) Protect the United States Border – Construction of a Domestic Sterile Screwworm Production Facility
USDA will construct a sterile fly production facility in Edinburg, TX, at Moore Air Force Base, an ideal location due to the existing infrastructure and proximity to the United States-Mexico border. Built with the Army Corps of Engineers, the facility will produce up to 300 million sterile flies per week to combat NWS. This will be the only United States-based sterile fly facility and will work in tandem with facilities in Panama and Mexico to help eradicate the pest and protect American agriculture.
3.) Wildlife Migration Prevention
Animals don’t know borders, and that leaves the U.S potentially vulnerable to NWS from wildlife migrating across the border. USDA is working aggressively to ramp up the hiring of USDA-employed mounted patrol officers, known as “Tick Riders,” and other staff who will focus on border surveillance. The Tick Riders, who are mounted on horseback, will be complemented by other animal health experts who will patrol the border in vehicles and will provide the first line of defense against an NWS outbreak along the United States-Mexico border.
USDA will also begin training detector dogs to detect screwworm infestations in livestock and other animals along our border and at various ports of entry. These dogs will be essential to help control the spread of the NWS. USDA is working closely with the U.S. Department of the Interior and the U.S Customs and Border Protection to monitor the border for NWS-infected wildlife that could pose a threat to the United States.
4.) Stop the Pest from Spreading in Mexico and Ensure We Are Full Partners in Eradication
USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) is working in collaboration with the National Service of Agri-Food Health, Safety and Quality (SENASICA) in Mexico to help them contain the pest south of the United States border by enhancing United States oversight, surveillance, improving case reporting, locking down animal movement to prevent further spread, providing traps, lures, training, and verification of Mexican NWS activities. Successful implementation will inform any future trade decisions impacting cattle movements on the southern border including the potential reopening of border areas.
5.) United States Food Safety is of Utmost Importance
To date, NWS has not been reported or detected in the United States in animals. USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service inspects animals and carcasses at slaughter, including for NWS to keep the food supply safe.
The following link provides additional information on USDA’s activities in response to New World Screwworm.
NIFA Provides Update on Grants Modernization
On August 12th, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced that a number of programs will be transitioning to a new eRA grants management system beginning in Q1 of FY2026. The following programs will be administered under the new system:
- Agricultural Genome to Phenome Initiative (AG2PI)
- Equipment Grants Program (EGP)
- Farm Business and Benchmarking Program (FBMB)
- Food and Agriculture Service Learning Program (FASLP)
- Food Safety Outreach Competitive Grants Program (FSOP)
- Organic Agriculture Research & Extension Initiative (OREI)
- Renewable Resource Extension Act National Focus Fund Program (REEA-NFF)
- Secondary Education, Two-Year Postsecondary Education, and Agriculture in the K-12 Classroom Challenge Grants Program (SPECA)
- Smith-Lever Special Needs Competitive Grants Program (SLSNCGP)
To help users better understand the new system, NIFA will be holding a webinar entitled “Introduction to eRA for NIFA Grant Applicants & Recipients” on September 11th from 2-4pm EDT. The webinar will cover the following topics:
- What is eRA Commons?
- NIFA's Award Lifecycle Overview
- How to access eRA Commons
- Understanding eRA Modules
- How to register with eRA Commons
- General expectations when registering
Click HERE to register for the webinar.
These efforts are part of NIFA’s ongoing Grants Modernization Initiative (GMI), which is intended to streamline how grants are managed at the agency.
