Take most any common agricultural commodity grown in the state, either plant or livestock based, have an expert in the field develop a set of very detailed and comprehensive plans, a “recipe” of sorts, for raising that crop, and it is reasonable to expect that a novice farmer could achieve acceptable commercial yields in a predictable manner as long as that farmer follows those instructions exactly. This may not hold true for crawfish production, though. There are several reasons why such a “recipe” approach might work for many commodities but is much less certain for crawfish.

First of all, most other commercial agricultural crops and livestock have been cultured for a long time, centuries and even millennia in many situations. Hundreds, and in many cases thousands, of scientists and agriculturists have studied, analyzed and defined those factors that influence yields and other important aspects of those crops. In short, with most commodities, agricultural scientists have a good understanding of the various major factors that influence production outcomes and now are concentrating mostly on understanding the influence of minor factors and/or on refining those strategies that influence level of profits. The history of crawfish production in the South only goes back about 70 years, and there have been literally only about a handful of scientists working in crawfish aquaculture to date. Thus, much less is known about the factors that affect crawfish production than most other commercial commodities.

Common agricultural commodities also have other advantages over crawfish in terms of management options. Current production strategies for most crops, based on a thorough knowledge of key factors, allow for a great deal of control over those factors. For example, with rice, farmers can control when to plant, what variety to plant, the desired seeding rate, precise fertilization and pesticide needs, flooding and draining requirements, and optimal timing of the harvest. For catfish, the farmer stocks known numbers and sizes of the desired species, furnishes a complete feed formulated to meet all of the nutritional requirements of that species, is able to feed medicated feed when required, knows exactly when supplemental aeration is needed, and can determine in advance of the sale whether his fish are “on flavor.” Therefore, a well devised “recipe” for production works fairly well for those commodities where a high degree of control is achievable.

With crawfish production, the farmer has very little control over several of the major factors affecting production. Probably most important is population density. The crawfish farmer relies on natural reproduction from adult crawfish to populate ponds. So, unlike the rice farmer that controls plant density or the catfish farmer who stocks the desired number and sizes of fingerlings, the crawfish farmer has relatively little control over his ultimate crop density. Also, whereas rice and catfish farmers can control with precision their quality and quantity of nutrient inputs (fertilizer and feed, respectively), the crawfish farmer has little control over nutrient conveyance. A forage crop is established prior to the culture season and the farmer relies on the gradual breakdown and natural delivery of those nutrients over the course of the season. Furthermore, nutrition from the forage crop is mostly obtained by crawfish indirectly, when they feed largely on invertebrates that feed from the decaying plant matter. Hence, precise delivery of food to crawfish in specified quantities and quality is not afforded the crawfish farmer because of its cost ineffectiveness. Moreover, the effectiveness of the forage-based system is confounded by variable and uncontrolled crawfish densities.

Aside from better control, rice and many other farmers and ranchers also have the advantage of being able to assess their crop or livestock situation to a much greater degree. Most can easily determine crop density, presence of invaders, and better assay for growth and diseases. While the catfish farmer cannot evaluate his crop as easily as most land-based agricultural managers, there is even less opportunity for the crawfish farmer to accurately examine and evaluate his crop.

Therefore, because so little is known about the many factors affecting crawfish production, because crawfish producers have so little control over many of those factors, and because crawfish farmers have no means of accurately assessing their crop, crawfish aquaculture is not a good candidate for the “recipe” approach to farming. In short, following a set of guidelines, no matter how complete and precise they may be, cannot guarantee that a crawfish farmer will realize the greatest and most predictable outcome possible on a consistent basis. The best chance for progressive crawfish managers to maximize their yields and profits and become more consistent with desired production outcomes is to become intimately familiar with the basic biology of the crawfish and to come to understand the aquatic environment. Judgment calls are common in crawfish production and only when one possesses a good working understanding of these two subjects and has a good conception of their relationship can one apply this knowledge to management decisions aimed at achieving maximum benefits in crawfish culture. Consequently, the more knowledge one has of crawfish and the aquatic environment they live in, the more apt one will be in applying subtle management practices to achieve greater economic success in the crawfish farming business.

This does not imply that production guidelines and well founded recommendations for crawfish farming are not important – they clearly are. Such guidelines and recommendations provided by the LSU AgCenter are based on research, scientific knowledge, and conditions specific to Louisiana, and in many cases, they are specific to particular strategies of production. However, because each crawfish pond has its own unique set of conditions and because of the reasons stated above, “fine tuning” of one’s farming operation must be based on one’s observations and knowledge and comprehension of crawfish biology and the aquatic habitat.