Coronavirus: Crawfish farmers hit hard as restaurants reduce orders
William Taylor Potter, Lafayette Daily Advertiser
The outbreak of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, along with the measures the state government has implemented to mitigate the spread of the virus, have presented an unprecedented challenge for Louisiana's crawfish farmers, according to the LSU College of Agriculture.
Gov. John Bel Edward issued a public health order Monday closing all restaurants except for curbside, takeout and delivery. The order also limited public gatherings to less than 50 people and closed movie theaters, bowling alleys and nightclubs.
With many restaurants across the state closed after the order — and the rest operating through takeout and delivery — restaurants aren't buying as much crawfish as they typically do. That has led to an abundance of supply, dropping prices, and hurting farmers.
“It’s crippling right now,” said Acadia Parish crawfish producer Gerald Frey in an LSU AgCenter release. “We’ve never faced anything like it. We can only sell 10 or 15% of what we catch.”
Frey told the LSU AgCenter he's been unable to get his workers from Mexico to fully staff his peeling operation, meaning he can't run his processing plant at full capacity.
He's had to lay off workers, and his agreement with his imported workers requires him to pay at least 75% of their contracts.
“We don’t know where this is going to end. There’s no way we can cover our labor costs," Frey said. “We’re just hoping and praying this thing is over soon."