Machinery, Tech & Automation
Satellite & Remote Sensing
Free imagery, used properly, beats expensive imagery used occasionally.
Public satellite programmes provide regular, free, ten-metre imagery over the whole UK, which is sufficient for most in-season monitoring decisions. This module ingests and processes that imagery into usable indices, handles cloud gaps with radar, and turns the resulting maps into zoning, scouting priorities and scheme evidence rather than pretty pictures.
- 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 remote sensing in the UK
Sentinel-2 provides approximately weekly optical revisit at ten-metre resolution, and Sentinel-1 radar penetrates cloud, which matters greatly in a UK climate where optical gaps are routine. Remote sensing is also increasingly used by paying agencies for monitoring, which makes it as much a compliance reality as an agronomic tool.
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
Remote sensing, 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.
Remote Sensing — a walkthrough
A working pass through remote sensing: 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 Remote Sensing 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
- Automated satellite imagery ingestion for every registered field
- Vegetation index calculation including NDVI, NDRE and biomass proxies
- Cloud detection and gap filling using radar backscatter
Operate and monitor
- Time series analysis with within-season and between-season comparison
- Anomaly detection flagging fields diverging from the expected trajectory
- Zoning outputs feeding the variable rate prescription builder
Comply and evidence
- Crop establishment assessment and gap identification
- Grass growth and biomass estimation for the grassland module
- Change detection for land use, habitat and compliance monitoring
Analyse and improve
- Scouting priority list generated from imagery anomalies
- Historic archive access for retrospective claim and insurance evidence
- Imagery-derived evidence packs for scheme monitoring
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.
Field imagery timeline with index selection and cloud filtering
Field imagery timeline with index selection and cloud filtering
ToolAnomaly alert list prioritising which fields to walk this week
Anomaly alert list prioritising which fields to walk this week
ToolSeason comparison slider between years for the same field
Season comparison slider between years for the same field
ToolBiomass estimate chart feeding the forage budget
Biomass estimate chart feeding the forage budget
ChartChange detection viewer for land use and habitat monitoring
Change detection viewer for land use and habitat monitoring
ToolEnd to end
How Remote Sensing 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
Register field boundaries
This is where the record starts, and getting it right here removes work at every later stage.
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2
Ingest imagery automatically on each pass
The platform prompts only for what this stage genuinely needs, and carries everything forward.
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3
Mask cloud and fill with radar
Conflicts with scheme rules, regulatory windows and existing commitments are flagged here rather than discovered later.
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4
Calculate indices and build the time series
Capture works offline, so this stage is completed in the field rather than remembered afterwards.
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5
Detect anomalies against the expected trajectory
Everything recorded at this point becomes evidence automatically, in every format that will later ask for it.
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6
Prioritise scouting and verify on the ground
This is the stage most businesses currently do twice, once for the operation and once for the paperwork.
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7
Feed zoning and prescriptions
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
Archive as evidence
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.
Large arable manager
Cannot walk everything weekly
Needs a prioritised list of which fields matter this week.
Grassland farmer
Cover estimation
Needs biomass estimates when the plate meter round is missed.
Scheme adviser
Monitoring and evidence
Needs dated imagery evidence of habitat and cover.
Insurance loss adjuster
Damage assessment
Needs pre- and post-event imagery of the affected area.
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.
Sustainable 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 Agency EnglandCountryside Stewardship
Fund more complex, targeted and bespoke habitat management than the main incentive offer supports.
Defra / Natural England / Rural Payments Agency EnglandFarming Innovation Programme
Fund research and development that solves practical problems for farmers and growers.
Defra with Innovate UKRates, 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.
- 01Fields with current imagery
- 02Anomalies detected and verified
- 03Scouting time saved
- 04Zoning derived from imagery
- 05Cloud-free coverage achieved
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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Fields with current imagery
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 37 Median 55 Upper quartile 85
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Anomalies detected and verified
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 36 Median 49 Upper quartile 70
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Scouting time saved
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 27 Median 54 Upper quartile 76
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Zoning derived from imagery
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 23 Median 50 Upper quartile 86
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Cloud-free coverage achieved
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 37 Median 58 Upper quartile 82
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 Remote Sensing
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 Remote Sensing 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?
Persistent cloud in a UK climate. Mitigated by radar fallback. 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.
Turning Free Satellite Imagery Into a Weekly Scouting Plan
The practical handbook for remote sensing: what the rules require, what the evidence has to show, and the mistakes that cost people money.
remote sensing — evidence checklist
Every document an audit or a claim asks for, in the order it is asked for, with the validity period of each.
remote sensing — 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 remote sensing, for advisers and software partners.
See Remote Sensing 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