Our Hen House: Vegan & Animal Rights Movement | Stories from the Frontlines of Animal Liberation

Screwworms and Exploding Grain: This Week’s Ag Disasters | Rising Anxieties

May 27, 2025

Dive into a world of agricultural mayhem where parasitic screwworms threaten cattle, prompting a costly sterile fly breeding initiative. Explore shocking grain silo explosions at ADM, raising serious safety questions and highlighting ignored regulations. Marvel at the pork industry's frantic promotion of protein for infants in response to a health report, and discover how drone surveillance sparks fears of transparency among farmers. This chaotic landscape reveals the industry's irony of creating its own crises while seeking taxpayer bailouts.

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INSIGHT

Screwworm Threat And Sterile-Fly Response

New World screwworm is spreading north from Mexico and threatens U.S. cattle and dairy operations.
Authorities plan sterile-fly programs and seek U.S. facilities, shifting costs to taxpayers.

INSIGHT

Economic Framing Overshadows Animal Welfare

USDA estimates a Texas screwworm outbreak could cost $1.9 billion annually due to cattle losses and treatment.
Economic framing dominates coverage while animal suffering and welfare get minimal attention.

ANECDOTE

ADM's Repeated Grain-Explosion Failures

ADM repeatedly neglected dust-control measures in grain processing despite known risks and past incidents.
The result: multiple explosions, one death, and numerous life-changing third-degree burn injuries.

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In this episode of Rising Anxieties, Mariann serves up a buffet of agricultural catastrophes that have the industry shaking in their boots. From parasitic invasions to explosive grain silos to the pork industry’s bizarre meltdown over a health report that barely mentions them, it’s a masterclass in how industrial animal agriculture consistently creates its own problems—then demands taxpayers foot the bill to solve them. Pour yourself something strong and enjoy this tour of an industry on the verge of a collective nervous breakdown.

This episode explores:

The New World Screwworm outbreak creeping toward the US border, threatening cattle operations and prompting a taxpayer-funded “sterile fly” breeding program
ADM’s shocking history of preventable grain explosions causing third-degree burns and life-changing injuries despite known safety protocols
Why the “Make America Healthy Again” report has the pork industry frantically promoting “filling the protein gap” for infants
How drone footage of farms has the industry demanding government protection from the terrifying prospect of transparency
The recurring theme of industrial animal agriculture’s self-created disasters requiring public bailouts while animal suffering remains an afterthought

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