Rainwater Harvesting & Farm Water Supply
Rainwater Harvesting: Data & Integrations
What is recorded, what it connects to and who can see it.
The module maintains 7 core entities and connects to 5 external sources. Everything is exportable in open formats and every instance of sharing requires explicit consent.
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.
- Catchment surface
- Rainfall record
- Demand profile
- Storage vessel
- Filtration
- Distribution network
- Performance reading
Every entity carries a full audit trail and is exportable in open formats under the Farm Data Charter.
Working view
Rainwater Harvesting, at a glance
The numbers you would check before doing anything else in rainwater harvesting. Each one is live against your own record, and each one tells you where it came from.
Choose a view
Cubic metres harvested annually
623.0 ha
Percentage of demand met from harvest
463.4 ha
Cost per cubic metre delivered
£57,805
+2.9%
Payback period achieved
64
+5.0%
Mains and abstraction volume displaced
50
+1.0%
What needs attention
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Action needed
Over-sizing storage on optimistic demand
mitigated by reliability modelling
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For information
Water quality for stock use
mitigated by specification and testing
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For information
Winter freezing and overflow
addressed in the design specification
Integrations
What it connects to
Agrivencia integrates with authoritative sources rather than rebuilding them. Where no production interface exists, a documented user-mediated route is provided instead.
- Met Office rainfall data
- Ordnance Survey building footprints
- Capital grant catalogues
- Water quality testing providers
- Installer marketplace
Integration availability, licensing and cost vary by source. The integration catalogue states the position for each one honestly, including where a commercial licence is required.
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.
Detail
How the data is held
Farm buildings present large, clean, unlicensed catchment areas that are almost universally discharged to a ditch. This module sizes the harvest available from every roof, designs the storage and distribution to match actual demand, appraises the capital case against mains and abstraction costs, and manages the water quality obligations where harvested water is used for stock or crop.
Rainwater harvested from a roof is not subject to abstraction licensing, which makes it the only source a farm can expand without a regulatory application. A large livestock or grain store roof in a typical UK rainfall regime can yield a substantial proportion of annual stock water demand, and the payback is driven mainly by the displaced cost of mains water or pumped abstraction.
Everything Rainwater Harvesting records is written into the same platform data spine as every other module, which is why a single entry can satisfy an operational need, a scheme evidence requirement, an assurance clause and a carbon activity line at once. That is the whole design premise: the work is already being done, and it is the recording of it that is duplicated.
Obligation calendar
What rainwater harvesting 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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8 January: Measure every roof catchment
A recurring step in rainwater harvesting.
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March 2 entries
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12 March: Obtain local rainfall records
A recurring step in rainwater harvesting.
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24 March: Profile demand by use and month
A recurring step in rainwater harvesting.
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April 1 entry
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20 April: Adding Value Grant
Round-based.
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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 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 2 entries
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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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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 3 entries
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3 November: Size storage against reliability target
A recurring step in rainwater harvesting.
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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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How we handle evidence
Where these figures come from
Agrivencia grades every figure it publishes. Primary legislation, official statistics and audit reports are treated as authoritative. Levy body and professional body data is treated as reliable. Commercial trackers and trade press are treated as indicative and labelled as such. Where sources conflict, the conflict is shown rather than resolved silently.
- Authoritative Legislation, statutory instruments, official scheme rules, national audit and public accounts reporting, departmental annual reports and accredited official statistics.
- Reliable Parliamentary committee evidence, peer-reviewed research, independent economic institutes and levy body analysis.
- Supporting Professional bodies, land agents, certification schemes and industry associations.
- Indicative Commercial market trackers and trade press, used for corroboration only and always labelled.
Payment rates, caps and windows in UK farm support change frequently and sometimes without notice. Nothing on this platform is a substitute for the current published scheme rules or for professional advice.
Questions answered
What people ask about Rainwater Harvesting
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 Rainwater Harvesting 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?
Over-sizing storage on optimistic demand. Mitigated by reliability modelling. We would rather state that plainly than let you discover it after signing.
See Rainwater Harvesting 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