News

USDA announced that registration is now open for the 102nd Agricultural Outlook Forum. The event will be held at the Crystal City Gateway Marriott on February 19–20, 2026, and all Forum sessions will be livestreamed on a virtual platform.

The Forum program will feature a presentation on the 2026 outlook for the U.S. agricultural economy and trade by USDA Chief Economist Justin Benavidez, a keynote address by Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, and a plenary panel of distinguished speakers who will discuss Agricultural Trade Under Trump’s Trade Agenda. The program also includes 22 breakout sessions organized by USDA agencies that will explore a wide range of current issues. More than 80 experts from government, industry, and academia will provide insights on key topics such as commodity and food price forecasts, farm income, U.S. and global agricultural trade, the future of biofuels, and AI applications in agriculture. The in-person event will feature exhibit booths hosted by USDA agencies highlighting their missions, recent USDA-funded innovations, and other key programs and activities. For more information, visit the Agricultural Outlook Forum website.

Source: USDA Press Releases, No. 0007.26 (January 14, 2026)

The United States in coordination with Ethiopia’s regulatory authorities has finalized new veterinary health certificates authorizing the export of U.S. live cattle as well as day-old chicks and hatching eggs to Ethiopia. The Ethiopian Agricultural Authority confirmed the approval of these market access requests on December 16, 2025.

Source: USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Global Agricultural Information Network Report ET2025-0027

USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service announced on November 20, 2025, the availability of $285 million for the America First Trade Promotion Program awards. This funding is described by the FY 2026 Notice of Funding Opportunity published on Grants.gov here: FY 2026 America First Trade Promotion Program NOFO. Please see the NOFO for full details and information on how to apply on the USDA-FAS website: fas.usda.gov/programs/america-first-trade-promotion-program.

The application deadline for this NOFO is 5 pm Eastern Daylight Time on January 23, 2026.

Source: USDA-FAS Newsroom, Stakeholder Notice (Dec. 9, 2025)

USDA is excited to highlight the launch of the new unified New World screwworm (NWS) website, screwworm.gov. This dynamic new site centralizes NWS information available across the Federal Government and reflects the whole-of-government effort to fight this pest through implementation of USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins’ comprehensive 5-pronged plan.

"To ensure timely and effective communications, this new unified website will be a one-stop shop for all screwworm related information and will help our stakeholders be better informed as new information comes available,” said Secretary Rollins. “We are grateful for the robust interagency collaboration, and we continue to work every day with our State and industry partners to implement our screwworm plan. This is a national security priority and it has the full attention of our team.”

Screwworm.gov has targeted resources for a wide range of stakeholders including livestock producers, veterinarians, animal health officials, wildlife professionals, healthcare providers, pet owners, researchers, drug manufacturers, and the general public. It also has the latest USDA-verified information on cases and response activities in Mexico and U.S. preparedness efforts. The website includes information from USDA, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Department of the Interior, Food and Drug Administration, Department of Energy, Department of Homeland Security, Environmental Protection Agency, and Department of State.

Source: USDA Press Releases, No. 0233.25 (November 21, 2025)

USDA announced the next milestone in the fight against New World screwworm (NWS) – the opening of a sterile fly dispersal facility in Tampico, Mexico. The Tampico facility will allow USDA to disperse sterile flies aerially across northeastern Mexico, including in Nuevo Leon.

There are 2 methods of dispersing sterile insects – aerial dispersal and ground release chambers. Aerial operations are preferred because they allow for dispersal at a steady rate through a large area and also because sterile insects may be dispersed in areas that are unreachable from the ground. Ground release chambers are used when there’s a need to quickly deploy sterile insects outside of the dispersal facility range.

USDA continues to disperse 100 million sterile flies per week in Mexico, but until now, aerial operations have been limited to southern Mexico, necessitating the use of ground release chambers in more northern areas of the country. Mass production and targeted dispersal of sterile flies remain critical components of effective response.

Although Mexico continues to confirm new cases of NWS, the overwhelming majority of these remain in the far southern part of the country, with no significant northward expansion over the past several months. Should that change, the Tampico facility will allow USDA to immediately tackle any cases that occur elsewhere in Mexico.

The two northernmost detections (approximately 70 and 170 miles from the U.S. border, respectively) occurred in Nuevo León, on September 20 and October 5, in young cattle transported from Chiapas, Mexico. Neither of those cases is still active and there have been no additional detections of NWS flies in traps or cases in animals in Nuevo Leon. USDA continues to disperse sterile insects in Nuevo Leon, and will now transition from ground release chambers to aerial dispersal in those areas.

USDA produces sterile flies for dispersal at the COPEG facility in Panama. USDA is also investing $21 million to support Mexico’s renovation of an existing fruit fly facility in Metapa, which will double NWS production capacity once complete. With ongoing support from technical experts from USDA's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Mexico anticipates this sterile fly production to begin as soon as summer 2026.

USDA has also begun construction on a sterile fly dispersal facility at Moore Air Base in Edinburg, Texas, that is projected to begin operating in early 2026. APHIS is also expediting design and construction of a sterile fly production facility in southern Texas, with a targeted maximum capacity of 300 million sterile flies per week.

USDA continues to work with Mexico’s agriculture authority, SENASICA, to implement the collaborative NWS action plan and guide trapping, surveillance, and movement protocols to help stop the northward spread of NWS.

Source: USDA Press Releases, No. 0230.25 (November 13, 2025)

Last week in Mexico City, Mexico, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins led the largest USDA agribusiness trade mission in U.S. history. During the mission to Mexico, 41 U.S. businesses, 33 cooperators and agriculture advocacy groups, 6 State Departments of Agriculture, and 150 participants conducted more than 500 business-to-business meetings over 3 days. This was a critical opportunity for U.S. business to further trade ties and for USDA to continue its aggressive response to New World Screwworm (NWS) in Mexico and continue to hold Mexico accountable for its commitments to the 1944 Water Treaty.

In addition to participating in this trade mission, Secretary Rollins met with the team at Mexico’s National Service of Agro-Alimentary Health, Safety, and Quality (SENASICA) Headquarters NWS Control Room to showcase bilateral efforts to combat the spread of NWS in Mexico. Under Secretary for Marketing and Regulatory Programs Dudley Hoskins accompanied Secretary Rollins on the trip and visited the State of Chiapas to review NWS containment practices and enforcement.

Secretary Rollins and Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Luke Lindberg visited a Walmart Super Center in Mexico City and Bimbo Bakery, both major importers of U.S. products for use in their operations. The American delegation was joined by Chanel Tewalt, Director of Idaho State Department of Agriculture, Sherry Vinton, Director of Nebraska Department of Agriculture, Derek Sandison, Director of Washington State Department of Agriculture, and officials from the California, Tennessee, and Wisconsin State Departments of Agriculture.

Mexico was the top market for U.S. agricultural exports in 2024, with shipments valued at $30.2 billion.

Source: USDA-FAS Newsroom, News Release (November 13, 2025)