Crops & Cultivation
Seeds, Varieties & Precision Breeding
Certification, provenance and a brand new regulatory regime.
Seed decisions set the ceiling on everything downstream. This module manages certified seed provenance, home-saved seed and royalty obligations, variety trial data, and — newly — the precision-bred organism regime that came into force for plants in England, including which authorised varieties may be grown and where they may legally be sold.
- 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 seeds & varieties in the UK
The Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Regulations 2025 came into force for plants in England on 13 November 2025, creating a Defra release and marketing notice pathway plus a Food Standards Agency food and feed marketing authorisation, with public registers maintained by both. The regime applies to England only and does not yet cover animals, and it diverges from the European Union position — which makes cross-border legality a live commercial question for anyone growing for export or for a devolved market.
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
Seeds & varieties, 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.
Seeds & Varieties — a walkthrough
A working pass through seeds & varieties: 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 Seeds & Varieties 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
- Certified seed lot register with certification grade, germination and purity
- Home-saved seed record with royalty declaration and cleaning provenance
- Variety performance library with regional and soil-type filtering
Operate and monitor
- On-farm variety trial design, randomisation and statistical analysis
- Precision-bred organism register tracking authorised varieties and trait claims
- Cross-border legality checker for England, the devolved nations and export markets
Comply and evidence
- Seed treatment record with authorisation status and operator certification
- Blend and mixture design for varietal diversity and disease resilience
- Seed cost per hectare modelling including establishment loss allowance
Analyse and improve
- Plant passport and biosecurity documentation for propagating material
- Landrace, heritage and conservation variety registry
- Seed supplier marketplace with certification evidence attached to every listing
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.
Variety comparison matrix with disease, yield and quality scoring
Variety comparison matrix with disease, yield and quality scoring
ToolSeed rate and cost calculator with thousand grain weight input
Seed rate and cost calculator with thousand grain weight input
CalculatorPrecision-bred variety legality checker by nation and destination market
Precision-bred variety legality checker by nation and destination market
WizardOn-farm trial results analyser with confidence intervals
On-farm trial results analyser with confidence intervals
ToolBlend designer showing combined disease resistance profile
Blend designer showing combined disease resistance profile
BuilderEnd to end
How Seeds & Varieties 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
Define the variety requirement from market specification
This is where the record starts, and getting it right here removes work at every later stage.
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2
Compare varieties on regional performance
The platform prompts only for what this stage genuinely needs, and carries everything forward.
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3
Check regulatory status including precision-bred authorisation
Conflicts with scheme rules, regulatory windows and existing commitments are flagged here rather than discovered later.
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4
Order certified seed or declare home-saved
Capture works offline, so this stage is completed in the field rather than remembered afterwards.
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5
Record treatment and sowing
Everything recorded at this point becomes evidence automatically, in every format that will later ask for it.
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6
Run on-farm trials where appropriate
This is the stage most businesses currently do twice, once for the operation and once for the paperwork.
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7
Analyse performance against the decision
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
Feed results back into next season's selection
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.
Arable grower
Variety selection each autumn
Needs regionally relevant performance data, not national averages.
Seed merchant
Certified seed supply
Needs certification evidence attached to every lot sold.
Plant breeder
Variety development
Needs on-farm trial data at scale to support release decisions.
Exporter
Grain and seed export
Needs certainty on precision-bred legality in the destination market.
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 Innovation Programme
Fund research and development that solves practical problems for farmers and growers.
Defra with Innovate UK EnglandAccelerating Development of Practices and Technologies
Fund farmer-led on-farm trials of practices and technologies.
Defra with delivery partners EnglandSustainable Farming Incentive 2026
Pay farmers for environmental actions taken alongside food production, as the principal replacement for area-based direct payments in England.
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.
- 01Establishment percentage against target
- 02Variety yield versus regional benchmark
- 03Seed cost per hectare
- 04Trial completion rate
- 05Regulatory compliance rate
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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Establishment percentage against target
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 22 Median 55 Upper quartile 80
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Variety yield versus regional benchmark
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 38 Median 46 Upper quartile 86
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Seed cost per hectare
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 39 Median 57 Upper quartile 81
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Trial completion rate
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 21 Median 57 Upper quartile 82
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Regulatory compliance rate
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 21 Median 45 Upper quartile 86
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
Obligation calendar
What seeds & varieties 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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February 1 entry
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25 February: Order certified seed or declare home-saved
A recurring step in seeds & varieties.
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March 1 entry
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19 March: Accelerating Development of Practices and Technologies
Round-based.
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May 1 entry
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6 May: Define the variety requirement from market specification
A recurring step in seeds & varieties.
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June 2 entries
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5 June: Farming Transformation Fund
Round-based by theme.
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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 3 entries
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14 July: Farming Innovation Programme
Competition rounds through the year.
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14 July: Slurry Infrastructure Grant
Round-based.
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17 July: Water Management Grant
Round-based.
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September 2 entries
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1 September: Check regulatory status including precision-bred authorisation
A recurring step in seeds & varieties.
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18 September: Compare varieties on regional performance
A recurring step in seeds & varieties.
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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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Questions answered
What people ask about Seeds & Varieties
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 Seeds & Varieties 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?
Regulatory divergence between nations. Mitigated by an explicit legality checker. 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.
Seed, Certification and the New Precision Breeding Regime in England
The practical handbook for seeds & varieties: what the rules require, what the evidence has to show, and the mistakes that cost people money.
seeds & varieties — evidence checklist
Every document an audit or a claim asks for, in the order it is asked for, with the validity period of each.
seeds & varieties — 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 seeds & varieties, for advisers and software partners.
See Seeds & Varieties 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