Machinery, Tech & Automation
IoT Sensors & Rural Connectivity
Design for the signal you have, not the signal you wish you had.
Sensor networks are only as useful as the connectivity carrying them, and rural connectivity remains the binding constraint on UK farm technology. This module manages sensor deployment and calibration, chooses the right transport for each location, and enforces the offline-first behaviour that makes the whole platform usable in a field with no signal.
- 12 capabilities
- 3 linked schemes
- Offline capable
- 12
- Capabilities in this module
- 5
- Interactive tools
- 3
- Linked support schemes
- 5
- Data integrations
- 5
- Measures reported
The ground reality
What is actually happening in iot & connectivity in the UK
The NFU Digital Access Survey found only 22 per cent of members reporting reliable mobile signal across their entire farm, with 21 per cent on broadband speeds under 10 megabits per second against a national average of under 1 per cent, and just 33 per cent with fibre access. Ofcom reporting shows outdoor 4G coverage near universal but rural indoor coverage far lower. Any design assuming continuous connectivity will fail in the field.
Figures are as published at the time of writing. Farm policy and payment rates change frequently — verify against the primary source before relying on any number here.
In the field
Iot & connectivity, as it actually looks
Photography from working UK holdings alongside the interface that records it. Every frame below is a commissioned slot: the brief is stated until the photograph is taken.
IoT & Connectivity — a walkthrough
A working pass through iot & connectivity: entering the record once, and watching it appear in the evidence pack, the calendar and the scheme application without being typed again.
- 0:00 What the module is for
- 0:48 Entering the record
- 2:05 Where it appears next
- 3:20 The evidence pack
Photography slots state their own brief until the shot is commissioned, so the layout never shifts when real images arrive.
Capabilities
What IoT & Connectivity does
Every capability below is built on the same underlying record, so entering something once is enough for it to appear wherever it is needed.
Record and plan
- Sensor register with location, type, calibration and battery status
- Transport selection guidance across cellular, LoRaWAN, satellite and wired
- Gateway placement planning using terrain and building obstruction
Operate and monitor
- Offline-first data capture with conflict-free deferred synchronisation
- Sensor calibration schedule and drift detection
- Soil moisture, temperature, weather station and tank level monitoring
Comply and evidence
- Building environment sensing for stores, glasshouses and livestock housing
- Alarm and escalation configuration with multi-channel delivery
- Connectivity survey recording actual measured signal across the holding
Analyse and improve
- Low-bandwidth and SMS fallback for critical alerts
- Sensor data quality scoring with outlier rejection
- Power and battery management with replacement forecasting
Interactive
Tools you actually use, not screens you read
These are working interfaces inside the module — maps, calculators, planners and dashboards that respond to your own holding data.
Connectivity survey map built from measured readings across the holding
Connectivity survey map built from measured readings across the holding
MapGateway coverage planner with terrain-aware range estimation
Gateway coverage planner with terrain-aware range estimation
BuilderSensor health dashboard with battery and calibration status
Sensor health dashboard with battery and calibration status
DashboardAlarm rule builder with escalation paths and quiet hours
Alarm rule builder with escalation paths and quiet hours
BuilderOffline sync status panel showing what is queued and what has landed
Offline sync status panel showing what is queued and what has landed
ToolEnd to end
How IoT & Connectivity runs, start to finish
The module is modelled as a state machine, so at any point the business knows exactly which stage every record is at and what has to happen next.
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1
Survey actual connectivity across the holding
This is where the record starts, and getting it right here removes work at every later stage.
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2
Select transport per monitoring location
The platform prompts only for what this stage genuinely needs, and carries everything forward.
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3
Place gateways and test coverage
Conflicts with scheme rules, regulatory windows and existing commitments are flagged here rather than discovered later.
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4
Deploy and calibrate sensors
Capture works offline, so this stage is completed in the field rather than remembered afterwards.
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5
Configure alarms and escalation
Everything recorded at this point becomes evidence automatically, in every format that will later ask for it.
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6
Monitor data quality and battery
This is the stage most businesses currently do twice, once for the operation and once for the paperwork.
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7
Maintain offline capability for field work
Results feed the whole-farm view, so the effect of this stage is visible against the rest of the business.
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8
Review and expand the network
The cycle closes here, and what is learned is carried into next season's plan rather than lost.
Who uses it
Built around four real jobs, not one generic user
Each of these people needs something different from the same record. The module is designed so none of them has to work around the others.
Farm technology lead
Deploying sensors
Needs to know which transport will actually work at each location.
Field operator
No signal in most fields
Needs the app to work anyway and sync later.
Store manager
Grain and potato stores
Needs alarms delivered even when broadband is down.
Rural connectivity adviser
Infrastructure planning
Needs measured coverage data rather than published maps.
Schemes and funding
Support schemes this module works with
Agrivencia holds these schemes as data, so eligibility, payment rates, caps and windows update the day they change rather than at the next software release.
Farming Equipment and Technology Fund
Contribute towards the cost of specified equipment and technology that improves productivity, slurry management or animal health and welfare.
Defra / Rural Payments Agency EnglandFarming Innovation Programme
Fund research and development that solves practical problems for farmers and growers.
Defra with Innovate UK EnglandImproving Farm Productivity Grant
Support investment in robotics, automation and on-farm energy that raises productivity.
Defra / Rural Payments AgencyRates, caps and windows change frequently and sometimes without notice. Always confirm against the current published scheme rules before applying.
Measurement
How you will know it is working
The module reports against these measures from the day it is switched on, so the value is demonstrable rather than assumed.
- 01Sensors reporting reliably
- 02Data completeness percentage
- 03Alarm delivery success rate
- 04Offline captures synchronised
- 05Battery replacements forecast accurately
Find
Find contractors and dealers
Filter by type, nation, distance and accreditation. Results are ranked by relevance to your holding once your holding record exists, and alphabetically before that.
6 records shown from the platform’s own register
- Module Machinery, Fleet & Contracting Flagship
- Module Precision Agriculture, Guidance & Variable Rate Core
- Module Robotics & Field Automation Core
- Module Drones & Aerial Survey Core
- Module Satellite & Remote Sensing Core
- Module IoT Sensors & Rural Connectivity Core
Benchmarking
How this compares with businesses like yours
A cohort is only useful if it is genuinely comparable, so it is built from farm type, soil grade, region and scale rather than from whoever happens to have signed up. Your own figure is never shown to anyone else.
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Sensors reporting reliably
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 24 Median 46 Upper quartile 69
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Data completeness percentage
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 35 Median 58 Upper quartile 73
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Alarm delivery success rate
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 26 Median 46 Upper quartile 78
-
Offline captures synchronised
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 28 Median 52 Upper quartile 84
-
Battery replacements forecast accurately
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 34 Median 46 Upper quartile 85
How the cohort is built
- Farm type
- Matched
- Soil grade
- Matched
- Region
- Matched
- Scale band
- Matched
- Cohort size
- Minimum 12 businesses, or no comparison is shown
Questions answered
What people ask about IoT & Connectivity
Does this replace the software I already use?
Not necessarily. Agrivencia integrates with authoritative sources and mainstream packages rather than insisting on replacing them. Where an incumbent does one job well, the platform connects to it; where the job spans several systems and nobody does it, the platform does it.
Will it work where I have no signal?
Yes. Field capture in IoT & Connectivity is offline first, storing locally and synchronising when a connection returns. Only around a fifth of UK farms report reliable signal across the whole holding, so this is a design assumption rather than a feature.
What happens when the scheme rules change?
Scheme rules are held as data rather than code, so a rate change, a cap change or a window closure is a content update that takes effect the same day. The platform also alerts you to what the change does to your own position.
Who owns the data I put in?
You do. The Farm Data Charter gives you a complete export in open formats at any time, and every instance of data sharing requires an explicit, revocable consent that is visible in your account.
Does it work if I farm across a border?
Yes, and that is one of the main reasons the platform exists. A business with land in more than one nation sees one reconciled view rather than two portals, with obligations and deadlines from both administrations in a single calendar.
Can my agronomist or land agent use it too?
Yes. You grant scoped, time-limited access per holding and per module, and you can revoke it in one click. Advisers never get a shared password or a blanket view.
What is the biggest limitation of this module?
Connectivity assumption failure. Mitigated by measured survey and offline-first design. We would rather state that plainly than let you discover it after signing.
Documents
Take it away with you
Everything here is printable and works on a kitchen table with no signal. Where a document asks for an email address, it says so on the button rather than after you press it.
Offline First: Designing Farm Technology for the Signal You Actually Have
The practical handbook for iot & connectivity: what the rules require, what the evidence has to show, and the mistakes that cost people money.
iot & connectivity — evidence checklist
Every document an audit or a claim asks for, in the order it is asked for, with the validity period of each.
iot & connectivity — record template
The record structure the module uses, as a spreadsheet, so a business not yet on the platform can start keeping it correctly today.
Data model reference
Entities, fields and integration points for iot & connectivity, for advisers and software partners.
See IoT & Connectivity running on your own holding
Thirty minutes, using your parcels, your schemes and your enterprises rather than a sample farm. No obligation and no sales script — if it does not fit your business we will say so.
- Free tier available
- No card required
- Your data stays yours