KAPLAN, La. — There is a boiling uncertainty in an area of Louisiana dubbed the “Crawfish Capital of the World.”

Farmers across the state are worried about this year’s crawfish crop, wondering if the “mudbugs” will emerge from their underground burrows, which can run three feet or more deep.

They’re concerned whether the tiny, lobster-like crustaceans, which usually grow alongside the coastal rice crops, survived the monthslong hot and dry conditions that affected the area.

Louisiana is the largest harvester of crawfish in the nation, buoyed by its tropical climate that makes it one of the nation’s wettest states, but many communities are experiencing one of the driest seasons in 129 years of record-keeping. For Kaplan and other communities in Vermilion Parish, the U.S. Drought Monitor has recorded more than 15 inches below normal rainfall, despite recent rain bringing some relief to the area.

For my farm, if I don’t catch any crawfish at all this year, I don’t know what my future is for next year.

Josh Trahan is a fifth-generation crawfish farmer and usually farms 800 acres of family land in Kaplan, located 22 miles south of Lafayette. He normally gets a head start to the season around late October, but as he walks through his crawfish pond, none of the typical signs are there, like the familiar sight of young crawfish found in dip nets in the fields. This year, he’s already lost 300 acres, which he had already spent money preparing for the season.

“We just don’t have enough water,” said Trahan, who has been farming crawfish since he was in high school. He said he can’t remember anything like it over the past three decades.

“Normally at this time, I’m doing fairly well. I’d be catching at least half a pound to the trap. With 3,000 traps, I can’t catch five pounds. Normally I’d be pulling 50 to 60 sacks out a day. I mean, there’s nothing.” Trahan said. “We got a lot of things going against us right now. You don’t know what to plan for. For my farm, if I don’t catch any crawfish at all this year, I don’t know what my future is for next year. It’s that big. It’s that detrimental.”

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Researchers at LSU’s AgCenter warned in August that drought stress would affect this year’s Louisiana crawfish production. Crawfish mating happens in the flooded rice fields in late spring. Once the rice fields are drained for harvest, then the crawfish burrow down beneath the rice for protection from the summer heat.

Mark Shirley, a marine extension agent at LSU AgCenter and Louisiana Sea Grant, checks a dip net for young crawfish while a combine harvests a second crop of rice near Crowley, Louisiana. Photo by Bruce Schultz/ LSU AgCenter

During that critical time in the crawfish life cycle, from May to October, total rainfall in Louisiana was down nearly 44 percent from the previous four-year average. Daily temperatures, already high, rose nearly three degrees higher during that same period, according to a preliminary LSU AgCenter study detailing the effects of the drought and excessive heat.

“Expectations of reductions in both the number and size of crawfish harvested would result in lower revenue while increased irrigation demands have and will continue to result in higher production costs,” the report said.

Some of the underground vertical burrows where crawfish spend the summer are cracking open because the ground is drying out, threatening their survival. And the lack of rain has caused an increase in salt levels in water sources producers rely on to flood their ponds. All the while, there are concerns over whether the rice and other grasses that crawfish use for food in the winter will survive the drought as well.

The LSU AgCenter now projects huge, negative impacts of the drought for Louisiana’s 1,600 crawfish farmers, affecting more than 90,000 of the state’s 250,000 acres of crawfish ponds. Losses may total nearly $140 million, a hefty financial hit to the more than $300 million dollar commercial crawfish industry, which dates back to the late 1800s.

Little research exists on the toll droughts take on hyporheic dwellers, which live underground in moist or muddy porous soil between the surface and the water table. Experts aren’t quite sure what lies ahead for the crawfish and the farmers who harvest them every year. Recent rains may have brought some optimism, but a cold snap could drive any surviving crawfish back underground before the peak season from March to May.

“With the lack of rain this season, there’s no telling how many crawfish will survive. It’s a waiting game. That’s kind of where we’re at right now,” said Todd Fontenot, an extension crawfish agent at LSU AgCenter. “We basically think every acre is going to be affected. In some areas, they’re still gonna catch crawfish, but I would say it’s going to be a tough year. It can translate to a pretty big problem that could affect the economy of the area. There’s definitely worry. There’s concern.”

Farmers (left) unload crawfish from traps into a boat for processing. Farmers (right) check the progress of the crawfish crop’s growth by looking for eggs that are attached to the adult’s little appendages under the tail. Photos courtesy of Louisiana Crawfish Company

Fontenot is tasked with tracking the progress of the conditions on the ground to update farmers. The first sign of crawfish is usually when birds that feed on young crawfish start appearing at the ponds where they grow. Normally, the water turns murky from the crawfish that squirm about. But now the water is clear, and fewer crawfish means fewer birds.

Another concern that Fontenot has been focused on is salinity levels in the water. The lack of rain has caused a saltwater intrusion from the Gulf of Mexico and the Intracoastal Waterway, raising sodium levels in ponds, lakes, rivers, and streams that are used for irrigation. The saltwater kills young crawfish and damages the rice that the crustaceans use as food. Fontenot said the recommended salinity level is no more than 3,000 parts per million.

“We’ve tested the water [during the fall], and we were seeing levels in some places four times the recommended level. Those are really high levels. In a regular year, farmers are able to use that water for irrigation, without any concern. This year they can’t,” Fontenot said. “Sodium that accumulates on the soil just remains there without adequate rainfall. So, it doesn’t just have an impact on the crawfish, but also for the impact that it can have on their soils and their future crops.”

Christian Richard, a sixth-generation crawfish farmer, has had to rely on deep water wells for his 5,500 acres. He said flooding the fields, which forces crawfish above ground, is costing him a lot more money following last year’s average season, which ended two months early in April due to dry conditions.

This season, the low water levels have forced him to pump five times more water from his deep water wells, which causes wear and tear on the pumps and increases fuel and labor costs.

Richard, who farms in Kaplan, said his equipment has aged five years in a few months’ time since water has to be continuously pumped from the wells to the rice fields due to the lack of rain.

“Two water wells have quit producing water altogether. Our utility bills are already double what they normally would be, so it was a quadruple whammy,” he said. “It is just an expensive proposition for not even knowing if all we’re doing would positively affect the crawfish. They may have gone in those holes way down, and they may have gone too deep and may not be able to come back out. So, it’s a big maybe.”

A worker at Randol’s Restaurant in Breaux Bridge, the “Crawfish Capital of the World,” empties a huge container with freshly boiled crawfish. Farmers say the lack of crawfish early in the season will no doubt work its way through the supply chain to the restaurants and other vendors where consumers will be paying higher prices. Photo by Ed Lallo/Lallo Photography

Still, after more than two decades in the fields, Richard said there is only one constant in farming: You cannot control the weather. As a result, he is planning for the worst, but hoping for the best. Farmers, he said, are figuring out ways to mitigate the damage.

“All it does is it causes us to try to find ways around it,” he said. “I’m going to drill a couple more water wells this year just to make sure that I have enough going forward. We have to equip ourselves with some good irrigation practices.”

Though the pendulum “could swing the totally opposite way like it did last year,” he added. “And we’re trying to find a place for the water to go.”

Farmers have always had to deal with the weather. While some farmers see the recent record temperatures and drought as a naturally changing pattern, other farmers point to climate change as the force behind recent natural disasters, such as major hurricanes in 2020 and 2021.

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These weather conditions add to the existing financial concerns. Crawfish farmers have faced rising production costs and increased competition from overseas importers.

During this challenging time, crawfish farmers agree they need more of a voice, more recognition from the public and politicians, and should be provided with more protections that traditional corn and wheat farmers receive during a crisis.

“What would help most to get them through a tough year is having a good year,” said Avery Davidson, communications director for the Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation. “But beyond that, improving disaster programs would go a long way because some farmers are concerned that they’re not going to make it to the next year.”

“If we were to lose our crawfish production, we’d be losing a major part of our heritage, our cuisine, and our economy. It’s really important that we don’t do that,” he added.

After recent rains in late December, new hatchlings (left) are becoming more plentiful but nowhere close to what farmers have seen in previous seasons. Farmers use dip nets to find the tiny crawfish in rice fields which are used for forage. One sign that crawfish are emerging from their burrows is the “crawfish chimneys” (right) that pop up in ditches and fields each spring. As the crawfish burrow into the ground, they bring up soil that creates smokestack-looking objects on the surface. Photos courtesy of Louisiana Crawfish Company and LSU AgCenter

The Farm Bureau, a statewide agriculture network of 145,000 members, has advocated on behalf of farmers, ranchers, and rural residents for more than 100 years. Davidson and the LSU AgCenter both believe the drought will be painful, but it will also help farmers learn how to weather the storm.

“This is going to be a difficult period for our crawfish farmers, but we also see this as an opportunity for us to see what stresses the crawfish industry and what programs can we bolster to keep the industry alive,” Davidson said.

With eight inches of rainfall in December, there are more “crawfish chimneys” in ditches and fields; as the crawfish burrow into the ground, they bring up soil that creates smokestack-looking objects on the surface that appear each spring. Farmers report more of the critters walking around and even more eggs attached to little appendages under the tail or swimmerets, but nowhere close to what they’ve seen in previous seasons. Farmers hope this year’s harvest will be enough to “let the good times boil” during Mardi Gras and the traditional crawfish boils during Lent in the spring.

“Every week we go look, we keep testing, we keep dipping our net to find them. We keep looking to see a sign. I’m not gonna give up,” Trahan said. “We’re gonna fight through. I have the expenses put in it already. We just need to catch them. So, I’m going to fight it to the end.”

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