It’s an expensive year for crawfish producers.
With about nine percent of Louisiana’s crawfish growing region experiencing dry conditions, crawfish producers are pumping more water into ponds. The rising diesel prices have now increased the costs of irrigation.
Todd Fontenot, crawfish agent at LSU AgCenter, said producers could shut down production a little earlier than normal with the rising costs and drought conditions. Crawfish season typically runs through June, with timing tied to temperature, rainfall and pond conditions that control growth and harvest cycles.
“There’s all those factors the producer has to look at,” Fontenot said. “Crawfish size, peeler price, pumping costs. Currently 11.3 percent of Louisiana is in an abnormally dry condition.”
The latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows drought conditions worsening across much of the state, with nearly 79 percent of Louisiana now in drought. The hardest-hit pockets include parts of southeast and coastal south Louisiana, where severe drought has expanded in late March.
Another factor producers must consider is the labor shortages at some processing plants across the region. Crawfish peelers are often hired on H-2B visas for nonfarming jobs, but the Department of Homeland Security stopped issuing these visas for foreign guest workers before plants completed their hiring for the season. Industry leaders say at least 15 of the state’s 20 major crawfish processing plants have received no guest workers this season, leaving facilities that typically depend on 100 or more returning workers operating with skeleton crews or sitting idle altogether, according to the Associated Press and Louisiana Illuminator. Reduced plant capacity means fewer pounds of peeled tail meat reaching restaurants, grocery stores and festival vendors.
Crawfish producers typically expect a slowdown in demand after Easter, when Lent’s no-meat Fridays end.
“Some of the demand may slow down a little bit with an earlier Easter this year,” Fontenot said.
One bright spot of the season is the good harvest for many producers and the moderate weather.
“It’s not going to be a record-breaking year, I don’t think, but I think we’re going to be definitely around average, or a little bit above average,” Fontenot said.
Pricing has also held steady, which is good for producers.
Rouses in Destrehan is selling live crawfish for $3.19 a pound and boiled crawfish for $4.29 a pound. The Seafood Pot has boiled crawfish for $5.99 a pound, and Crawfish and Chill is serving boiled crawfish for $7.99 a pound.
The statewide average for crawfish is about $5.50 to $7.30 per pound. Recent South Louisiana price trackers showed a statewide average of $7.30 a pound in late February, before dropping closer to $5.50 to $6.30 a pound by mid-March as supply improved.
