Drainage, Flood Risk & Natural Flood Management
Drainage & Flood: Questions Answered
Straight answers to the questions people actually ask.
Including the awkward ones. If something is a genuine limitation of the module we would rather say so here than let it be discovered later.
Questions answered
What people ask about Drainage & Flood
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 Drainage & Flood 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?
Damaging unmapped drains during operations. Mitigated by mapping first. We would rather state that plainly than let you discover it after signing.
Everything included
The full capability list, grouped
Record and plan3
- Drainage system mapping including mains, laterals, outfalls and manholes
- Historic drainage plan digitisation and georeferencing
- Drainage performance assessment by field with wet spot identification
Operate and monitor3
- Maintenance schedule for jetting, outfall clearing and ditch management
- Drainage renewal appraisal with cost and yield benefit modelling
- Mole ploughing and subsoiling planning against soil condition
Comply and evidence3
- Flood risk assessment for land, buildings and access
- Flood warning subscription and response planning
- Natural flood management intervention design — leaky dams, bunds, ponds and buffer planting
Analyse and improve3
- Runoff and attenuation modelling for catchment contribution
- Watercourse and ditch riparian responsibility recording
- Internal Drainage Board liability and rate record
Detail
The short version
Field drainage determines workable days, yield stability and machinery damage, and it is almost always undocumented — the plans are in a drawer or lost. This module maps the drainage system, plans maintenance and renewal, assesses flood risk to land and buildings, and appraises natural flood management interventions that now attract funding in their own right.
Substantial capital has been committed to flood defence, and natural flood management is increasingly funded as a catchment intervention rather than an incidental benefit. Much of the UK's field drainage was installed decades ago with no surviving record, so the first task on most holdings is finding out what is actually there.
Everything Drainage & Flood 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.
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.
Free download
Finding the Drains: Mapping, Maintaining and Renewing Field Drainage
A practical handbook, written for UK farm businesses, with the sources cited and the working shown. No sales call attached — the guide is the point.
See Drainage & Flood 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