Just when you thought it was safe to come out of the packhouse, along come the gloom merchants with predictions of a tougher year next year.

Bloody spoilsports. We were all looking forward to our bird flu riddled turkeys and a chance to launch ourselves at the market with renewed vigour come 2008. Now we have to spend the next six weeks preparing for our almost certain doom once the Christmas decorations come down.

We don’t have to, of course. A collective tightening of the UK purse strings may seem like a negative, but it can also be taken as a signal to re-evaluate our own companies’ spending policies, the efficiency of our processes, and the effectiveness of our strategies.

The truth is that margins are not built on sales volume alone. The Food Chain Centre, set up five years ago to improve the profitability of farming, this week said its projects have saved farmers - many in the fresh produce arena - more than £14 million. The Department for Transport’s Freight Best Practice initiative reckons to have saved freight operators around £190m in the last year alone.

Improving the way your business operates can be just as rewarding as doubling the bottom line, both practically and financially. Before the tottering economy bites you where it hurts, build a protective layer. It might make 2008 a year to remember for the right reasons.