Wheat planting in Australia is set to fall this season as growers cut nitrogen rates and chase lower-cost crop options including barley.

New analysis points to a smaller wheat crop and reduced fertiliser use, leaving grain markets now paying closer attention to seasonal conditions.

Rabobank senior commodities analyst Charles Hart said weaker margins and higher input costs had prompted growers to pull back on wheat area, while weather in major northern hemisphere growing regions would play a role in determining prices through the second half of the year.

Mr Hart said lower fertiliser use could affect grain protein levels and reduce the volume of higher-grade wheat available at harvest, while increasing the importance of seasonal conditions in key exporting countries. It was expected that overall yields could be back as much as 17 per cent.

A large portion of the shift in Australia’s planting was being attributed to the west. But the same trend was evident in the eastern states too with some growers saying they opted to sow 50 per cent less wheat.

In Western Australia, last season’s winter crop exceeded 26 million tonnes, but estimates from the Grains Industry Association of Western Australia put this year’s planted area at 8.93 million hectares, down from 9.45 million hectares last year.

NSW Farmers grains committee chairman Justin Everitt said barley and legumes had taken ground from wheat in many districts following a drier start to the season.

“For some areas it was business as usual, but where there had been a drier start the barley dynamic took over,” Mr Everitt, who farms at Brocklesby, said.

In his cropping program, the wheat area was reduced by 50 per cent this year in favour of legumes and hay crops.

Carron farmer Jason Mellings said input costs had influenced planting decisions, with some producers opting for “something like lentils, with less nitrogen requirements”.