The United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) has opened the Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory, a state-of-the-art laboratory facility in Kerrville, Texas, that will provide the U.S. cattle industry with innovative tools and advanced technologies to manage and eliminate the invasive fly and tick pests that threaten the U.S. cattle industry.
“The brand new Knipling-Bushland U.S. Livestock Insects Research Laboratory will allow us to research and find new active measures to keep current and future threats away from our borders,” said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke L. Rollins. “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.”
The new 52,000‑square‑foot laboratory features cutting‑edge laboratory spaces, advanced cattle facilities, and a state‑of‑the‑art genomics core to drive research that delivers innovative control technologies for the U.S. livestock industry. Other on-site research opportunities will involve improved surveillance and trapping tools, novel insecticides and acaricides, enhanced pesticide delivery techniques for cattle and wildlife, sustainable treatments to prevent and mitigate outbreaks of invasive/quarantine arthropod species, improved approaches to combat pesticide resistance, and insect genomics to identify pest vulnerabilities.
The facility also houses two ARS research units: the Livestock Arthropod Pest Research Unit and the Veterinary Pest Genetics Research Unit. Collectively, these units improve the health, sustainability and profitability of U.S. livestock production and protect the U.S food supply from devastating arthropod pests, including biting flies, ticks, and the New World screwworm. On-site research also plays a role in critical research to eradicate other ticks and blood feeding flies that can harm, infect and kill cattle.
“This 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,” said ARS Administrator Joon Park. “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.”
