Key Takeaways
- The USDA Agricultural Research Service has opened the Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory in Kerrville, Texas, a 52,000-square-foot facility dedicated to researching and developing tools to manage invasive fly and tick pests threatening the U.S. cattle industry.
- The laboratory houses two ARS research units — the Livestock Arthropod Pest Research Unit and the Veterinary Pest Genetics Research Unit — covering biting flies, ticks, and the New World Screwworm.
- On-site research priorities include improved surveillance and trapping tools, novel insecticides and acaricides, pesticide resistance management, and insect genomics to identify pest vulnerabilities.
- The facility is named after Drs. Edward F. Knipling and Raymond C. Bushland, the USDA researchers who developed and demonstrated the Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) that led to the eradication of the New World Screwworm from the US, Mexico, and Central America.
- The Kerrville site has an 80-year research history that includes sequencing the genomes of more than 25 livestock arthropod pest species and developing macrocyclic lactone pesticides for tick and fly control on cattle and wildlife.
USDA ARS Opens New Livestock Insects Research Laboratory in Kerrville
The USDA Agricultural Research Service has opened the Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory in Kerrville, Texas. The 52,000-square-foot facility is designed to develop and deliver pest management tools for the U.S. cattle industry, with a focus on invasive fly and tick species — including the New World Screwworm, which the USDA has been actively working to prevent from re-establishing in the United States.
The opening builds on eight decades of ARS research conducted at prior Kerrville-area facilities, including the original development of the Sterile Insect Technique that led to the eradication of the New World Screwworm from the US, Mexico, and Central America during the latter half of the 20th century.
“The new laboratory will equip our researchers with advanced tools to combat the most destructive invasive insects already impacting the United States, as well as those posing future threats at our borders. The important ARS research conducted here in Kerrville will continue to play a vital role in protecting and strengthening the future of the U.S. cattle industry,” said USDA ARS Administrator Joon Park.
What the Knipling-Bushland Laboratory Contains
The facility includes cutting-edge laboratory spaces, advanced cattle handling facilities, and a genomics core unit. It houses two USDA ARS research units: the Livestock Arthropod Pest Research Unit and the Veterinary Pest Genetics Research Unit. Research conducted across both units addresses the health, sustainability, and profitability of U.S. livestock production, with a particular focus on biting flies, ticks, and the New World Screwworm.
Planned research activities include the development of improved surveillance and trapping tools, novel insecticides and acaricides, enhanced pesticide delivery methods for cattle and wildlife, sustainable outbreak mitigation strategies for invasive arthropod species, approaches to combat pesticide resistance, and insect genomics research aimed at identifying pest vulnerabilities that can be targeted by new control technologies.
“For the last 250 years, our nation has relied on research leading to science-based innovation as a means to overcome some of America's greatest agricultural challenges, including the exclusion of New World Screwworm from the United States with novel Sterile Insect Techniques. The Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory will build on their legacy by protecting livestock health, ensuring that America's ranches remain productive, safe, and profitable for generations to come,” said USDA Under Secretary for Research, Education, and Economics Dr. Scott Hutchins.
The Scientists Behind the Name
The laboratory is named after two USDA research pioneers. Dr. Edward F. Knipling first proposed in 1937 that screwworms could be controlled using a sterile male technique. Dr. Raymond C. Bushland demonstrated in the early 1950s that the theory was viable in practice — that sterile male screwworms could be produced at scale and released to suppress wild populations. The resulting Sterile Insect Technique (SIT) became the core strategy that led to the eradication of the New World Screwworm from the United States in the 1970s, and subsequently from Mexico and Central America.
Nearly 80 years later, SIT is still being deployed in Mexico and Central America as a barrier against the screwworm re-entering the United States. The New World Screwworm — a parasitic fly whose larvae feed on the living tissue of warm-blooded animals — poses a significant threat to U.S. cattle and wildlife if it were to re-establish north of the current containment zone.
“We have taken extraordinary actions to keep New World Screwworm out of the United States and this lab will help us accelerate our offensive efforts to drive this pest further away from our borders,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins.
