Grant & Scheme Engine
Scheme Engine: Features & Capabilities
Every capability in Scheme Engine, grouped by what it is for.
Scheme Engine carries 12 capabilities and 6 interactive tools. They are grouped below by what they are for rather than by which screen they live on, because the underlying record is shared.
Capabilities
What Scheme Engine 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
- Complete four-nation scheme catalogue with objectives, eligibility, rates and windows
- Eligibility engine keyed on business, holding, land parcel and enterprise data
- Rules-as-data architecture so a scheme change is a data update, not an engineering release
Operate and monitor
- Whole-farm income optimiser across scheme actions subject to caps and area limits
- Cross-scheme double-funding and permitted-stacking rule checking
- Application pre-fill from the platform land, cropping and livestock records
Comply and evidence
- Window opening and closing alerts with budget-fill gauge tracking
- Deadline calendar covering every application, claim and evidence date
- Agreement register with actions, areas, payment schedule and end dates
Analyse and improve
- Evidence requirement tracking per action with automatic assembly
- Payment reconciliation against the agreement and claim
- Appeals and dispute workflow with evidence pack assembly
In the field
Scheme engine, 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.
Scheme Engine — a walkthrough
A working pass through scheme engine: 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.
In practice
Six things Scheme Engine changes on day one
None of these requires a new process. They all come from recording the work you already do, once, in a form the rest of the platform can use.
Complete four-nation scheme catalogue with
Complete four-nation scheme catalogue with objectives, eligibility, rates and windows.
Eligibility engine keyed on business
Eligibility engine keyed on business, holding, land parcel and enterprise data.
Rules-as-data architecture so a scheme
Rules-as-data architecture so a scheme change is a data update, not an engineering release.
Whole-farm income optimiser across scheme
Whole-farm income optimiser across scheme actions subject to caps and area limits.
Cross-scheme double-funding and permitted-stacking rule
Cross-scheme double-funding and permitted-stacking rule checking.
Application pre-fill from the platform
Application pre-fill from the platform land, cropping and livestock records.
By nation
The same job, four different sets of rules
Delivered by: Defra, the Rural Payments Agency, Natural England, the Environment Agency and the Forestry Commission.
Main scheme: Environmental Land Management, with the Sustainable Farming Incentive as the principal offer alongside Countryside Stewardship, capital grants and Landscape Recovery.
Delinked payments end after 2027. Windows have closed at short notice before, so budget-fill status is worth watching.
Delivered by: The Scottish Government and the Rural Payments and Inspections Division.
Main scheme: A four-tier framework under the Agriculture and Rural Communities (Scotland) Act 2024, with base and enhanced direct payments and elective and complementary tiers following.
Whole Farm Plan components are a condition of support and phase in over several years. Miss a component and the payment is at risk.
Delivered by: The Welsh Government and Rural Payments Wales.
Main scheme: The Sustainable Farming Scheme, with Universal, Optional and Collaborative layers, replacing the legacy area payment which phases out by 2029.
The Universal layer requires twelve actions, at least ten per cent habitat and a farm carbon baseline. Welsh language provision is a legal expectation, not an optional extra.
Delivered by: DAERA.
Main scheme: The Sustainable Agriculture Programme, with the Farm Sustainability Payment as the area-based safety net alongside beef, suckler, sheep, protein crop and horticulture schemes.
Conditionality now includes soil nutrient health and bovine genetics participation, and progressive capping applies above sixty thousand pounds.
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.
Eligibility wizard returning every scheme the business qualifies for, ranked by value
Eligibility wizard returning every scheme the business qualifies for, ranked by value
WizardWhole-farm optimiser maximising income within caps, area limits and rotational rules
Whole-farm optimiser maximising income within caps, area limits and rotational rules
ToolWhich-scheme-pays-more comparator between competing options on the same land
Which-scheme-pays-more comparator between competing options on the same land
ToolLive budget-fill gauges with a closure risk indicator per scheme
Live budget-fill gauges with a closure risk indicator per scheme
GaugeDeadline countdown board across all four nations
Deadline countdown board across all four nations
DashboardPayment reconciliation report showing expected against received
Payment reconciliation report showing expected against received
ToolObligation calendar
What scheme engine asks of you, and when
Windows, deadlines and recurring obligations for England. Set a different nation and the calendar reconfigures; farm across a border and it shows both, reconciled.
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January 1 entry
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11 January: Scottish Base and Enhanced Level Direct Payments
Annual application, single application form.
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March 3 entries
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3 March: Run eligibility across all four nations
A recurring step in scheme engine.
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15 March: Import land, cropping and livestock records
A recurring step in scheme engine.
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16 March: Farm Sustainability Payment
Application from early March with a deadline in mid-May.
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May 1 entry
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26 May: Sustainable Farming Scheme
Scheme year runs to 31 December, with the single application form deadline in mid-May.
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June 3 entries
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5 June: Farming Transformation Fund
Round-based by theme.
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6 June: Model income under competing options
A recurring step in scheme engine.
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15 June: Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026
Two windows in 2026: window one from 30 June, window two from September.
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July 1 entry
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14 July: Slurry Infrastructure Grant
Round-based.
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August 1 entry
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2 August: Establish the business and holding identity
A recurring step in scheme engine.
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October 1 entry
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5 October: Farming Equipment and Technology Fund
Round-based, usually open for a defined application period.
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November 2 entries
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12 November: Improving Farm Productivity Grant
Round-based.
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27 November: Environmental Land Management Capital Grants
Round-based, with rapid allocation once open.
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December 1 entry
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26 December: Countryside Stewardship
Rolling and round-based depending on the tier and option group.
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Compared
Where Agrivencia differs from what already exists
The UK already has strong point tools. What it does not have is one record spanning them, or one view spanning four nations. That gap is the entire proposition.
| Agrivencia | Single-purpose farm software | Government portals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Covers all four nations | Yes, each as a first-class tenancy | Usually one nation | One administration each |
| One record across domains | Yes — 84 modules, one data spine | Within its own domain only | Within its own scheme only |
| Scheme rules held as data | Yes, updated the day rules change | Rarely | Authoritative but not reusable |
| Assurance evidence auto-assembled | Yes, from operational records | Partially, per scheme | Not applicable |
| Whole-farm income optimisation | Across schemes and nature markets together | No | No |
| Offline field capture | Yes, designed first | Varies | Generally no |
| Marketplace and commerce | Multivendor with verification and escrow | Separate platforms | Not applicable |
| Farmer-owned data export | Published charter, open formats | Varies considerably | Limited |
This comparison describes categories of product rather than named competitors, and reflects our own assessment. Any specific product should be evaluated on its current published capability.
Data model
What the module records, and how it connects
These are the entities the module maintains. Because they are shared across the platform rather than owned by one screen, a record created here is available everywhere it is relevant.
- Scheme
- Action
- Eligibility rule
- Payment rate
- Window
- Application
- Agreement
- Claim
- Evidence requirement
- Payment
- Appeal
Every entity carries a full audit trail and is exportable in open formats under the Farm Data Charter.
Questions answered
What people ask about Scheme Engine
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 Scheme Engine 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?
Abrupt mid-window scheme closure. Mitigated by budget-fill gauges and early warning. We would rather state that plainly than let you discover it after signing.
See Scheme Engine 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