Despite a slow start, Texas crawfish production remains steady, and consumers can expect an average season amid ongoing demand, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service experts.
Todd Sink, Ph.D., AgriLife Extension aquaculture specialist and director of the Texas A&M AgriLifeAquatic Diagnostics Laboratory, Bryan-College Station, said that while the harvest delay may initially result in some limited in-store availability, overall farm inventory is on par with an average year, and the supply lag should resolve as harvest ramps up.
“In terms of production, crawfish farms are having a normal year,” Sink said. “The only thing we’re seeing is the product didn’t make it to retail vendors as rapidly because of the late January freeze that slowed harvest for a few weeks.”
Strong demand and steady prices
Crawfish prices typically start higher at the beginning of the season, peak around Lent – the 40-day religious observance leading to Easter – and taper off as the season slows in early summer.
Currently, live crawfish average around $5 per pound in Bryan-College Station and over $4 per pound in the Houston area. Few, if any, retailers currently have crawfish in stock in the Dallas and San Antonio areas.
Due to consistent high demand, Sink said he doesn’t anticipate consumers seeing much of a price break as the season progresses.
“We wouldn’t expect more than a 50-cent drop per pound from what we’re currently seeing,” Sink said. “In previous years, you could get crawfish down in the $3.50-$3.75 per pound range, but I don’t think we’re going to see that this year.”
Crawfish farm acreage remains steady
Texas ranks a distant second in crawfish production behind Louisiana, the nation’s top producer.
“Reporting in Texas is voluntary, so exact farm and harvest numbers are not available,” said Nikki Fitzgerald, AgriLife Extension coastal and marine resources agent in Jefferson and Chambers counties.
Sink estimates Texas has 15,000-20,000 acres in crawfish production, with most of the farms located in the southeast portion of the state. Jefferson and Chambers counties are home to 8,000 registered acres.
A past assessment conducted by Fitzgerald noted 14 Texas counties with at least one crawfish farm. Since then, she and Sink said additional acres and farms have been added along the coast, as well as in East Texas.
While production estimates vary, harvests typically range between 500-650 pounds per acre. Sink said some producers have reported harvests as high as 850 pounds per acre during a good year.
Texas crawfish avoids major invasive pest impacts
Sink said Louisiana still relies heavily on crawfish-and-rice field rotation farming. In contrast, many Texas producers have transitioned to year-round pond production and avoided major impacts from rice delphacid, an invasive pest that has devastated thousands of acres of rice across the state.
Still, the pest remains a concern for Texas crawfish producers who do use the rice field rotation.
“Rice delphacid affects the second growth of rice crops, or the ratoon crop, which is what crawfish feed on when using that rotational method,” Fitzgerald said.
She added that slight differences in production methods and farm connectivity have also allowed Texas crawfish producers to avoid the impacts of the invasive apple snail, which has caused significant economic losses in Louisiana.
“While our producers thankfully haven’t been hit hard by these invasive pests yet, they’re very much on their minds,” Sink said. ∆
SARAH FULLER
TEXAS AGRI LIFE
Texas crawfish production remains steady, and consumers can expect an average season amid ongoing demand, according to Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service experts. (Courtney Sacco/Texas A&M AgriLife)
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