Knowledge Exchange & Farmer Clusters
Knowledge Exchange: Data & Integrations
What is recorded, what it connects to and who can see it.
The module maintains 9 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.
- Group
- Member
- Meeting
- Attendance
- Benchmark pool
- Trial
- Coordinated action
- Outcome
- Impact report
Every entity carries a full audit trail and is exportable in open formats under the Farm Data Charter.
Working view
Knowledge Exchange, at a glance
The numbers you would check before doing anything else in knowledge exchange. Each one is live against your own record, and each one tells you where it came from.
Choose a view
Active members
84
+2.0%
Practice changes adopted
211.3 ha
Coordinated hectares
354.9 ha
Benchmark participation rate
89 %
+6 pts
target 95%
Measured outcome improvement
30
+1.0%
What needs attention
-
Action needed
Data sharing reluctance
mitigated by genuine anonymisation and explicit consent
-
For information
Attendance without practice change
measured directly rather than assumed
-
For information
Group dependency on one facilitator
mitigated by shared ownership of the evidence base
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.
- Facilitation fund programmes
- Knowledge transfer funds across nations
- Platform anonymised data pools
- Research bodies
- Levy body programmes
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
Farmer-to-farmer knowledge transfer is the most trusted route to practice change and the least systematically captured. This module runs discussion groups, demonstration events, farmer clusters and benchmarking clubs, and — critically — pools anonymised platform data so a group can compare real outcomes rather than recollections.
Farmer clusters and facilitation funds deliver landscape-scale environmental outcomes that individual agreements cannot, and knowledge transfer funds operate in each nation. What has been missing is comparable data: groups meet, discuss and disperse without a shared evidence base, which limits how much practice actually changes.
Everything Knowledge Exchange 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.
Work
Roles on UK holdings
Permanent, seasonal and contract work, with the pay basis and the statutory position stated plainly — including where the Seasonal Worker visa route applies and what it obliges an employer to do.
| Role | Type | Pay basis | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|
| Herdsperson | Permanent | Salary | Accommodation often part of the package; the offset rules are specific. |
| Tractor driver | Seasonal | Hourly | Working time and rest break rules apply during harvest. |
| Harvest operative | Seasonal | Hourly | Seasonal Worker visa route where applicable. |
| Agronomy assistant | Permanent | Salary | BASIS training usually expected within the first year. |
| Relief milker | Contract | Per milking | Self-employed status must be genuine; the tests are strict. |
| Farm secretary | Part time | Hourly | Often shared across several holdings. |
What an employer has to do
- National Minimum and Living Wage Rates change each April. Accommodation offset is capped and counts toward the calculation.
- Agricultural Wages Order Still in force in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with different grades and rates in each.
- Right to work checks Required before the first day, with a statutory excuse only if done correctly.
- Employer's liability insurance Compulsory, and the certificate must be accessible to employees.
- Gangmaster licensing Required for labour providers in agriculture; using an unlicensed provider is an offence.
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 Knowledge Exchange
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 Knowledge Exchange 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?
Data sharing reluctance. Mitigated by genuine anonymisation and explicit consent. We would rather state that plainly than let you discover it after signing.
See Knowledge Exchange 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