That's the message from John Barrett, chief agricultural officer at Norfolk-based purchasing co-operative AF, which sources more than £300m of agricultural goods every year on behalf of its 3,000 members across the country.

He said the farmers who stay "one step ahead" are not necessarily the ones with the biggest businesses, the newest machine technologies or the greatest appetite for risk.

Instead, it is often those asking difficult questions and "doing something different".

"I think it’s a willingness to learn and act sooner," he said. "Increasingly, I wonder whether that is becoming a competitive advantage in its own right.

“In farming, some information has a shelf life.

“Knowing that an input market is tightening before you need to buy gives you time to consider........

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