Western Australia farmers are expected to plant less wheat this season after low prices and high input costs hurt many farmers last year.

With seeding expected to start in three weeks, farmers are relying on decent rains after one of the driest summers on record. However, confidence is low in some marginal rainfall areas, with hundreds of farmers budgeting to make a loss or break even this season as the price of wheat remains at cripplingly low levels.

WAFarmers president Mike Norton said farmers would strategically analyse their soil tests more this year than previous years because of the low price of wheat. The area sown to wheat will contract and they will plant more rapeseed and many farmers continually crop wheat paddocks and will drop them out of rotation, he said.

Farmers will be trying to keep their input cost to an absolute minimum so they are going to be very conservative in case prices drop to AUD200 (US$185) per tonne.

Bankwest rural and regional manager of projects and strategy Peter Rowe said his clients were planting similar programmes to last year but would seriously consider where they planted crops.

Fourth-generation Kulin farmer Karl Argent said this could be his last year if the season delivered another bad crop, with six out of the last 10 seasons showing financial losses.

"Over the last decade we have eroded an enormous amount of equity, through no fault of our own. Farming is unsustainable in today's environment", he said.