Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller is trading barbs with the Trump Administration over its response to a parasitic pest that continues to make its way north in Mexico, and could potentially threaten the state’s $15 billion cattle industry if it crosses the border.
This week, in an interview with a Nashville television network that focuses on rural issues, Miller expressed frustration that the U.S. Department of Agriculture was not using a synthetic bait that he has promoted to combat the New World Screwworm, a fly that infects warm-blooded animals and recently has been spotted less than 100 miles from the border.
“I still haven’t gotten buy-in from the USDA to do a fly bait,” Miller told RFD-TV. “If we put out the fly bait, we can wipe out the screwworm in Mexico in 90 days, but f