Next Year’s Crawfish Season May Be in Peril
Crawfish, Louisiana's delicacy, has had a problem over the last year. Beginning in the spring of 2023 Louisiana and lasting through the entire summer Louisiana experienced an unusual drought. In Louisiana, it's commonly agreed that Crawfish season goes from January until July, though for others it may end earlier than that, so the drought starting in spring was a problem for crawfish as drought conditions only continued to worsen through the fall of the same year. Louisiana's Agriculture Commissioner, Dr. Mike Strain, recently took time to speak with Louisiana Radio Network about the impacts this drought will have on future crawfish seasons, "I think you're going to see struggles in the crawfish market probably from two to three to four, five years."
The crawfish industry is a vitally important part of Louisiana's economy, bringing in over $300 million per year, so a threat to that industry could spell greater problems for the state's economy at large. Mike Strain said that the Agriculture and Forestry Commission has plans for most disasters that could strike, it would be ready to protect farmers but Strain states "...it never anticipated for a pond-raised organism that you would have a drought that would dry up the pond."
Thankfully the state is getting help from the Federal Department of Agriculture to give relief to farmers still recovering from the drought conditions. This isn't the end for Louisiana's beloved crustation, Dr. Strain himself agrees but warns, "...it's going to take a few years. We built this crawfish industry over a generation. This is the first time we've had such a drought."