Roby Chavez:
Well, Geoff, look, for now it's a waiting game. We're all waiting for those tiny crustaceans to emerge from their underground burrows, but it has been slow.
Some have dug down way too deep, waiting, looking for moisture. Others have had the tunnels collapse on them. And,in the meantime, the rice fields where they grow and they thrive, where they feed on, have been damaged as well. The crawfish is a staple of Louisiana cuisine, as you know. But this year, there is worry on crawfish farms across the state.
The problem, mudbugs, as they are sometimes called, they don't have enough water to grow and thrive, and temperatures have been way too hot. Predictions are that crawfish farmers could lose nearly $140 million. Drought stress will impact all of the state's 1,600 farmers and a third of the state's 250,000 acres of crawfish ponds.
Now, the culprit, rainfall in Louisiana has been down nearly 44 percent, and temperatures rose three degrees from May through October compared to the four-year average. As a result, there is some concern in the crawfish capital of the world that they will take a significant financial hit, Geoff.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7sa7SZ6arn1%2Bjsri%2Fx6isq2ejnby4e8Sxq6udnZp6pb7Orp6hrF2eu264zq6grKGRo65uwMernJqslaPAbsDOZpqrnZGpsm6tjJypmq%2BWnsCpedKhpquskZyy