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Local crawfish lovers remember well the high prices and less than stellar crawfish production of 2024 crawfish season brought on by a severe drought and excessive heat in 2023, wreaking havoc for crawfish farmers.

But, according to LSU AgCenter’s Todd Fontenot, the upcoming season looks more promising, as the crawfish are emerging to better conditions.

“So a lot of our producers are flooding up their crawfish ponds at this time.  They’re seeing some signs of crawfish emerging as they are putting water on these fields.”

 

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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Louisiana has experienced an increased rainfall in 2024, and moderate temperatures have improved field conditions, especially for crawfish raised alongside rice. Of course,  concerns remain, especially with salinity issues in southern ponds, Fontenot expects this year to be an improvement over last year’s record low yields.

“We are seeing crawfish emerging from their borrows with young, with hatchling recruits that they are going to be releasing into the pond.”

 

Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images
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With up to 400,000 acres dedicated to crawfish production, hopes are high for a plentiful season. However, Fontenot says it remains too early to predict whether prices will remain stable.

“In general, we are still seeing in the rice growing region, still an increase in acreage.  We’ve seen a decrease in soybean production and those acres are going into crawfish production.”

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