Drought-stricken Louisiana crawfish producers need emergency federal support, says Graves

U.S. Rep. Garret Graves (R-LA) urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to provide emergency federal funding to Louisiana crawfish producers, who “suffered immensely” from adverse weather during 2023.

“We’re going to have to pass around collection plates at our Good Friday crawfish boils,” Rep. Graves said in a Feb. 28 statement. “Crawfish prices are soaring and our crawfishers are facing significant financial losses.”

Rep. Graves and his home-state colleague U.S. Rep. Troy Carter (D-LA) urged USDA to provide funding from the Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honey Bees, and Farm-raised Fish (ELAP) to the state’s drought-affected crawfish producers, according to a Feb. 27 letter they sent to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack.

“The Secretary of Agriculture already has the authority to provide immediate relief to our crawfish farmers through the ELAP statute without any regulatory changes,” said Rep. Graves. “We urge them to do this now — there’s zero sense in waiting to make things right for our folks at home who are still scorched from last summer’s heat.”

Likewise, in their letter, the members point out that the supply shortage has caused prices of crawfish to soar to $13 per pound in January, compared to $6.04 per pound during the same month last year. 

Additionally, Louisiana suffered from what the average farmer would consider adverse weather throughout 2023 due to extreme heat and drought, which has resulted in significant crawfish crop losses, they wrote, noting that both Baton Rouge and New Orleans experienced record heat during the critical reproductive season. 

Making matters worse, roughly 97 percent of Louisiana experienced severe drought during 2023, with the state having just 39.85 inches of rainfall, which is two feet below the annual average.

And since many crawfish farmers rely on rainfall for their harvest, the water shortages meant that producers experienced significant adverse impacts to their crawfish yields because of the drought, they wrote.

“Without intervention from the Department of Agriculture, this traditional cuisine will be inaccessible to many families, and our farmers will have to choose between operating at a financial loss or shutting down entirely,” said Rep. Carter. “Federal government intervention is essential.”

The Louisiana Farm Bureau Federation endorsed the bipartisan letter.

“We are exploring every avenue to provide relief to farmers and do our crawfish justice,” added Rep. Graves.