CROWLEY, La. — Crawfish season continues, and this week KATC CRAWDAQ is in Acadia Parish—home of "The Rice Capital of America."
In the farming industry, crawfish and rice go hand-in-hand, so the people of Crowley—"The Rice Capital of America"—has their fair stake in crawfish, too.
On the outskirts of Crowley is the Lamm Brothers farm, a mass of land 3,000 acres large, half of which is used for rice and half for crawfish. Owner, Brant Lamm, said even in the heart of crawfish country, things have been tough this year.
"This has been the rougest start to crawfish season in the nearly 30 years I've been farming," Lamm said. "We spent three times the money in the summer, pumping, fertilizing these fields, trying to keep the rice alive, trying to keep the crawfish alive, and it seems like we did all of that for nothing, so now, we're that much farther in the hole."
The shortage of crawfish has caused prices to go up and not just for the customers.
"Right now, it's—nobody's making money in the crawfish business—the farmers, the middlemen and the restaurants—none of them making money," Lamm said. "We would much rather be catching a lot of crawfish and have a lower price, you know, because we could still make money, and the public could afford to eat them more."
In Acadia Parish, the effects of this issue seem to be even more widespread, considering how many of the residents rely upon the crawfish industry.
"Most families have one person that's involved in the crawfishing," said Sherry Fruge, owner of D.I.'s Cajun Restaurant in Basile. "Lot of friends we know, that's their main income, and they are hurting very bad."
There is more to this shortage than just this past summer's drought, though. Lamm described some of the other threats to this year's crawfish crop.
"Now, we have an invasive species called an apple snail, and their starting to move into all our ponds," Lamm said. "So, that's another big problem that we don't know what the answer to is, and they keep spreading worse and worse. The other problem we're having right now is with geese. The geese are getting in our fields every night and eating all the rice stubble, so you don't have any food left for the crawfish."
Despite everything, these farmers and restaurant owners said they are doing their best to maintain the quality customers expect.
"We're running them over the grader for our restaurant, taking out the small ones, which is bringing our cost way up, but we want to serve a products that, you know, people like and will come back to eat," Lamm said.
"We kind of grade our crawfish a little right now, so they are a good medium. We've been getting very good compliments on the size and, of course, the taste," Fruge said.
Check out this week's full CRAWDAQ Index report for both Lafayette and Acadia Parishes here.
Next week's CRAWDAQ update will feature Vermilion Parish, so if you would like your crawfish prices to be included in the report or know of a unique crawfish story, contact me at calyn.lamanno@katctv.com.
Check back in every Thursday night for your CRAWDAQ Index update.
