Lots And Lots Of Louisiana Crawfish Sold To The Live Market

By Don Molino

Voice of Louisiana Agriculture Radio Network

Acadia Parish crawfish farmer Alan Lawson says most of his crop and similar crops are usually sold to the live market.

Crawfish is a hitch market and, according to Lawson, not many other places can compete with Louisiana crawfish.

“And we have that population center there in Houston that’s got so many people that buy live crawfish,” says Lawson, “So last year when this pandemic hit and all those restaurants closed it really through everything for a loop while everybody was trying to make an adjustment and figure out how they were going to get the crawfish.”

Consumers still wanted the tasty mudbugs but it was impossible to go to the restaurants they would normally patronize to get them

“So it took a little while for that to get shifted to retail instead of food service and pick up instead of dining in,” Lawson continued. “People still wanted ‘em, they just had to figure out how to get ‘em so they could socially distance and follow COVID guidelines.”

“I think we’re a long way from the restaurant industry being where it was, but I also think we’re close to getting it back where it needs to be.”

(This report a service of the Louisiana Crawfish Promotion Board)