Farm Support Services NAICS 1151, 1152

Sep 30, 2025 - Screw Worm Threat to Cattle

• Cattle ranchers and feeders are on alert after animal health authorities confirmed another New World Screwworm (NWS) infection in a cow 70 miles south of the US-Mexico border in September, Beef Magazine reports. The NWS is a parasitic fly that lays eggs in the living tissue of fresh wounds in warm-blooded animals. The larvae feed on the host’s flesh, causing severe wounds. The pest wreaked havoc in Texas half a century ago, but was declared eradicated in the 1960s. Eradication is accomplished through surveillance, host treatment, and quarantine, but successful eradication involves the breeding and release of sterile flies. The USDA suspended importations of cattle from Mexico into the US in May to prevent NWS movement north. Should it enter the US, the NWS is estimated to cause losses, conservatively, of $2.1 billion to cattle in Texas, according to the USDA.
• For the fourth consecutive year, historically low Mississippi River levels are threatening US corn, soybeans and wheat exports, Farm Bureau reported in September. Persistent drought has reduced the depth and width of the navigation channel, forcing barges to carry lighter loads, limiting tow sizes, and raising transport costs. Draft and tow size restrictions on barge traffic on the lower Mississippi River have resulted in steep declines in southbound grain traffic: The USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service recently reported that in just over a month total southbound Mississippi River grain shipments fell 79%, with corn movements down 72%, soybeans 89% and wheat 55%. Restrictions, arriving during the peak of harvest, are putting additional pressure on farmgate prices and raising concerns about the competitiveness of US grain exports, already under pressure from retaliatory tariffs. Close to half of all US corn, soybeans and wheat exports move through the Mississippi River system, per FB.

• Agronomists are encouraging farmers to be on the lookout for tar spot after the disease was confirmed in corn fields in two midwestern states in June, AgWeb reports. Tar spot, a foliar disease of corn caused by the fungus Phyllachora maydis, was first confirmed in the US in 2015 in Illinois and Indiana. The Crop Protection Network reported the disease was found on June 11 northeast Kansas and Indiana. Corn crops with extended periods of leaf wetness – due to fog, high relative humidity, or rain – are most vulnerable, according to Bryant Luers, LG Seeds field agronomist. Tar spot develops rapidly, overwinters in residue and can travel airborne from neighboring fields making it nearly impossible to eradicate completely. It’s also more aggressive than typical Corn Belt diseases. Tracking daily humidity levels is a good way to scout for the disease.
• Migrant workers appear to be braving the threat of deportation by continuing to show up for work, The Wall Street Journal reports. WSJ noted that while data covering immigrants lacking permanent legal status is fragmentary, what’s available shows no broad pullback from the labor force, including on farms. A spokeswoman for the American Farm Bureau Federation said that while some farmers report employees afraid to come to work, “We are not aware of widespread interruptions in farm operations due to employees’ absenteeism.” To allay concerns about a shortage of agricultural workers President Trump in April said he was looking into allowing undocumented farm and hospitality workers to voluntarily leave the country for a short time before reentering the country legally, Bloomberg reported. Nearly half (45%) of all agricultural workers in the US – 950,000 of an estimated 2.2 million farmworkers – are "unauthorized" migrants working illegally on farms and ranches.