CHANCES of a large summer crop around Northern and Central NSW are slim, with a lot of areas needing large amounts of rain before they'd think of increasing their hectares.
B & W agronomist Michael Brosnan, Mungindi, said only a 20 per cent plant was expected in the Mungindi region due to a lack of water and price incentive.
Mr Brosnan said because prices are so low, growers are choosing to be extremely conservative with their water and have only planted the hectares they could irrigate.
If prices were better, Mr Brosnan said some growers might have decided to plant more of their area and hope for rain and a good river flow but current prices just weren't worth the punt.
"Growers have been very safe while the price is ordinary," he said.
Cotton will still make up majority of the region's summer crop.
Mr Brosnan said some growers would need about 150 millimetres of rain before they thought about sowing any dryland.
The chance of a summer crop around the Walgett district is looking bleak with at least 200 millimetres of rain needed for the prospect to improve at all.
Consulting agronomist Greg Rummery said with the last of the planting windows coming up in early January, growers would need to see a big fall of rain very quickly to consider putting in a crop.
"It's not to say it won't happen, but it needs to happen soon," he said.
Dryland cotton is still an option for the area up until the end of November, although Mr Rummery said most of the area would consist of later sown crops such as sorghum and sunflowers.
"Our history has shown we can grow sorghum, cotton, sunflower and mungbeans in that order," he said.
"We just need the moisture to do it."
Mr Rummery said most growers in the district would be hoping for a wet summer to increase the likelihood of having a good winter crop in 2015.
"Growers who are putting in a summer crop would be doing so for cash flow," he said.
"Even if we got good rain tomorrow, most would hold the moisture over for their winter crop in 2015."
The Macquarie Valley is expecting one of the smallest summer crops they've seen since the last drought, with Delta Agribusiness agronomist, Justin Lewis, Trangie, saying there would only be between 7000 to 8000 hectares of summer crop planted.
"About five years ago there were lower levels, but the area is getting very low again," he said.
Mr Lewis said the bulk of crops in the valley would be cotton and there'd be very little to no dryland planted in the area.
Water limitations have also been the hold up for the valley and Mr Lewis said the area would need significant rain before farmers thought about putting any more crops in.
"Farmers aren't overly optimistic for any changes. It's very unlikely the area will increase much."
