THE area sown to crops this year could drop dramatically if the dry season continues.

Grain Growers Association chairman John Eastburn has warned the area sown in Queensland, NSW and Victoria could be slashed by half, depending on the break.

"If things don't improve then a lot of members will only put half of the country in," Mr Eastburn said. "Through Victoria and NSW the talk is that they will halve their input.

"There's been a huge uplift in the input costs."

The Baradine farmer said the predictions would change if there was a good season break.

"It depends on the weather patterns," he said.

VFF Grains Group president Geoff Nalder said that while it was too early to say definitively that acreage would be down, there was the potential for it to be significantly reduced.

"There's every chance of a significant reduction if we have a poor season," Mr Nalder said.

He said the acreage might be reduced by only a small amount if there was a good start to the season.

"The rule of thumb is that there are parts of the farm, where the soil is good, that you would sow anyway and others you would only sow if the season is good," he said.

"If there are any paddocks with a lot of weeds, then leave them out of it this year."

Mr Nalder said a lot of crops were put in on the basis of a good start to the season last year and warned access to finance could be an issue for farmers in deciding how much to sow.

"If banks decide the inputs are too high, then growers may have to pull their heads in and grow their crops well on a smaller acreage," he said.

Diesel prices were still above $1 a litre and fertiliser prices were still high. "It's a lot of money to stump up," he said.

Mr Nalder said growers needed to make the hard decisions about whether they would produce enough to cover their running costs for the next 12 months.

He said some farmers would have to think about selling, leasing or sharefarming.

"If they can't comfortably continue in the industry then they have to canvas their options now," Mr Nalder said.

"We're business people and the hard decisions have to be made."

However, Goondiwindi farmer Damien Scanlan said growers in his area were in the best position they had been for years.

"If the soil moisture is there, then it will be a full plant," Mr Scanlan said.

"You can't afford not to plant."