Photo by Jacob Cavallaro
Adlar Stelly, the owner of Stelly's Crawfish, a family crawfish operation in Abbeville.
The rural highways that lead to the Stelly family crawfish farm in Abbeville put the state’s signature agricultural industry on full display. Thousands of acres of crawfish ponds formed by flooding rice fields branch out in all directions, surrounded by small, earthen levees that regulate the floods. A glance to either side of the highway allows drivers a glimpse at the process in action—small, motorized crawfish boats methodically pacing through the waterway aisles in the flooded fields, as workers pull traps.
By the time Christmas decorations are taken down from attics to adorn the yards of Louisiana homes, the state’s farming families have already begun to harvest the first crawfish of the year. Close to one hundred of those farmers will, at some point, make their way through the Stelly family crawfish dock.
The Stelly family’s history farming crawfish goes back to 1969, when Sandrus Stelly Sr. returned from army service in Vietnam. “That was the first year he started selling commercially, using it to make a living,” said Adlar Stelly, the second-generation owner of the family farm in Abbeville. At the time when his father was getting started, there were not as many buying docks where a farmer could unload crawfish. “They would fill an F-100 up with as much crawfish as possible and drive up to Breaux Bridge to drop off what they had.” Bait was cheap, and working a fifty-acre farm in Pecan Island could produce enough crawfish to help a young man get started in the industry.
[Read this: "Crawfish Tales—a spicy pilgrimage down the Bayou Country Crawfish Trail"]
Thirty years ago, Adlar’s parents started their own dock. Business increased, and the family relocated to their current location in Abbeville.
Today, with his wife Natachia, Adlar has expanded the operation into a drive-thru restaurant—Stelly’s Boiling Spot, a seafood dock, and a processing facility in Breaux Bridge called Bayou Land Seafood, where workers process crawfish tail meat, and even alligator meat, during its brief season.
Jacob Cavallaro
Adlar and Natachia Stelly, the second generation owners of the family crawfish business in Abbeville.
The heartbeat of the business, though, is the family farm. The Stellys currently own or manage 5,600 acres of rice farmland, which function doubly as crawfish ponds—a common rotation practiced by farmers across Louisiana since the 1970s. Adlar estimates that around eighty percent of rice farmers he knows also farm crawfish. The symbiotic process begins at the peak of crawfish season (March and April), when farmers prep for the next year by planting their rice crop. When crawfish season ends in early June, farmers stock their ponds with mature crawfish that will repopulate those waters the following year. June also represents the only slow time of year for farmers. Traps are pulled, boats are cleaned, and families like the Stellys can consider taking vacation. By July, the rice that was planted in the spring is ready to be harvested. Once rice harvest ends in September, the plant remains as food for the crawfish. Farmers pump water into the rice fields, and the crawfish begin to emerge in increasing numbers to feed on grasses, rice, algae, critters, and the bait waiting for them in the traps. Farmers harvest the crawfish from late fall to late spring, selling them to docks, which transport them either to processing facilities or to restaurants, groceries, and caterers—from which they eventually find their final destination on steaming trays in front of you.
“The fishermen could give us the crawfish [for free], and we couldn’t compete against [foreign imports]. On the upside, we are growing a healthier, well-maintained product. A lot of this stuff coming from overseas is so little checked, and then a lot of times when they do test it, there are issues. So, we can grow a healthier, better product for the nation.” —Adlar Stelly
It’s laborious work, crawfish farming. “It is not easy going out in freezing weather, in hot weather, in rain, in lightning, and catching that crawfish,” said Natachia. The Stellys utilize the federal H-2A program that allows employers to bring foreign nationals to fill temporary agricultural jobs. In small crawfish boats, these workers zig-zag through the flooded aisles in the rice fields, the traps poking out above the water line.
In recent years, rising costs of production present a constant battle for Louisiana crawfish farmers. One year ago, the Stellys could purchase crawfish traps for about $12.50 each. Now those same traps are priced at $14.25. In addition, due to the ever-more-serious issue of saltwater intrusion, the traps are not lasting as long. “The saltwater has started coming in more and more, and it’s eroding the cages,” said Adlar. The cost of bait has been increasing, too. Many farmers use menhaden, or pogies. Though menhaden are fished off the Louisiana coast in the Gulf of Mexico, much of that catch is processed into fish oil and fishmeal. Many crawfish farmers source from along the East Coast, where restrictions on fishing have impacted crawfish farming along the Gulf.
[Read about the specific challenges faced by crawfish farmers during the 2020 pandemic, here.]
In addition, for the last ten years, farmers have been facing the threat of the apple snail, an invasive species becoming more prominent every year. Noted for its distinctive bright pink egg clusters, the snail can take up domicile in cages and clog the funnel through which the crawfish climb to enter the cage. “They’re after the same food the crawfish is after,” said Adlar.
Jacob Cavallaro
Adlar and Natachia Stelly, the second generation owners of the family crawfish business in Abbeville.
Louisiana crawfishermen also face the increasing competition of imports. Crawfish tail meat from China arrives in Louisiana at prices lower than what workers in Louisiana get paid to peel the crawfish. “We can’t compete against that,” said Adlar. “The fishermen could give us the crawfish [for free], and we couldn’t compete against that. On the upside, we are growing a healthier, well-maintained product. A lot of this stuff coming from overseas is so little checked, and then a lot of times when they do test it, there are issues. So, we can grow a healthier, better product for the nation.” LSU AgCenter Crawfish Specialist Todd Fontenot agrees: “We encourage people to eat Louisiana crawfish. There are a lot of people out there that are trying to market (imported) crawfish to have local-sounding names. Read the label closely, because some are very misleading.” Fontenot says much is unknown about the conditions in which imported crawfish are raised. “We don’t know. We don’t get to see things firsthand. I’d say err on the side of caution and eat local crawfish.”
“We really love what we do. It’s been in our family for so long, and it’s important for us to keep going. There are a lot of people who depend on us. We’re going to do what we can as a family to help the industry keep moving forward.” —Adlar Stelly
And finally, “I don’t think people realize how much the farmers are at the mercy of mother nature,” said Natachia. That was surely evidenced in 2023, when severe drought resulted in nearly catastrophic drops in crawfish production. Perhaps nothing predicts a harvest’s success more than the whims of nature.
Despite its challenges, the Louisiana crawfish industry continues to thrive and even expand as the market for crawfish lovers seems ever-growing. The area farmed hovers at an all-time high, above 400,000 acres. Crawfish passing through the Stelly dock are trucked to every Gulf Coast state, and their processed crawfish meat is sent even further, to places like Tennessee, Wisconsin, and New York.
Photo by Jacob Cavallaro
Adlar Stelly showcasing his family property.
“For us, it’s more than just a job or our livelihood,” said Adlar. “We really love what we do. It’s been in our family for so long, and it’s important for us to keep going. There are a lot of people who depend on us. We’re going to do what we can as a family to help the industry keep moving forward.”
As the Stelly operation looks out at its third generation, it has truly become a family affair. Natachia oversees practically every aspect of the operations and sits on the Louisiana Crawfish and Research Promotion Board. Adlar’s brother Sandrus Stelly, Jr., is co-owner of one of the crawfish farms and part-owner of the drive-thru—as well as the processing facility. The Stellys’ grown children have now entered the business in roles related to marketing, accounting, and retail service. Adlar’s nephews are integrally involved, and even the boyfriends of the Stellys’ two eldest daughters work for the company, on the farm or at the dock.
“My hope would be that they continue on growing it in the way that my brother and I did for my dad,” said Adlar.
And as for the product itself, this singular crustacean and the delicious meal it provides remain at the heart of all operations.
“People ask me if I ever get tired of eating them,” said Adlar. “When I walk in there and they’re stirring the water and I smell it, I can’t get tired of it. I eat ‘em four or five times a week.”
