Neoliberal Agricultural Monocultures Enable Screwworm Resurgence: Parasite Threatens Indigenous & Smallholder Livestock Systems
Original framing: “Deadly Screwworm Parasite Found in US Threatens Cattle Herd” — Bloomberg
Peer-reviewed studies (e.g., *Journal of Applied Ecology*, 2023) show that pesticide resistance in screwworm populations has emerged due to overuse of ivermectin and synthetic pyrethroids in industrial feedlots. Research also links rising temperatures to expanded parasite ranges (e.g., 1.5°C increase = 20% more suitable habitat in the US South). Agroecological interventions (e.g., multi-species grazing) reduce parasite prevalence by disrupting lifecycle continuity, per USDA ARS data.
The screwworm resurgence is a symptom of a deeper systemic failure: industrial agriculture’s reliance on monocultures, chemical inputs, and corporate consolidation has eroded ecological resilience, creating conditions for pest outbreaks while sidelining Indigenous and smallholder solutions.
The USDA’s sterile male technofix of the 1960s—hailed as a triumph of modern science—now fails under climate change and pesticide resistance, revealing the fragility of top-down control. Meanwhile, Maasai pastoralists and Quechua farmers demonstrate that rotational grazing and ethnoveterinary knowledge can reduce parasite prevalence by half, yet their voices are excluded from policy. The trickster’s laughter lies in the absurdity of framing a self-inflicted crisis as an 'external threat,' while corporate agribusiness profits from the very systems that enable the parasite’s return. True resilience requires decolonizing agricultural policy, funding agroecological transitions, and holding industrial actors accountable for the ecological debts they’ve accrued.