SOME Western Downs chickpea farmers have lost more than half their crop to recent frosts.

Frost also affected wheat and barley farms on the Darling Downs, with temperatures as low as -5.6 degrees in Oakey and -4.2 in Dalby last week.

Landmark senior agronomist Paul McIntosh said while some crops had been "hammered", there were already signs of recovery.

"It's a mixed bag," he said. "It certainly appears that chickpeas in their reproductive stage have been hit very hard.

"The seeds inside the pod have gone black, or the flowers have been frosted and dropped off.

"Even the vegetated ones in the pre-productive stage have been hammered by the frost quite dramatically… the good news is those chickpeas are not necessarily dead.

"They have already, even on Monday and Tuesday (last week), seen new bunches of leaves popping out of the branches."

Damage to wheat crops is less severe, with the crops planted later in the year.

There is, however, a possibility of some crops being downgraded, with the potential for some grain to be smaller than previously anticipated.

Mr McIntosh said he had inspected one Western Downs chickpea crop with 62% damage, although there was a chance it could regenerate.

"I think it's really the luck of the draw," he said.

"It's a hard thing to call - in the one paddock you can have five different levels of damage.

"Really, for a lot of people, the biggest problem is dry weather… not the frost."