Biodiversity Net Gain
Biodiversity Net Gain: Features & Capabilities
Every capability in Biodiversity Net Gain, grouped by what it is for.
Biodiversity Net Gain carries 12 capabilities and 5 interactive tools. They are grouped below by what they are for rather than by which screen they live on, because the underlying record is shared.
Capabilities
What Biodiversity Net Gain 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
- Baseline habitat assessment using the statutory biodiversity metric
- Habitat condition assessment following the published criteria
- Uplift modelling across habitat creation and enhancement options
Operate and monitor
- Unit calculation with distinctiveness, condition, strategic significance and risk multipliers
- Spatial risk multiplier handling for off-site delivery
- Income modelling against the agricultural margin forgone over thirty years
Comply and evidence
- Gain site registration workflow with the register application
- Section 106 or conservation covenant legal agreement management
- Habitat management and monitoring plan authoring for the full thirty years
Analyse and improve
- Monitoring evidence capture with fixed-point photography and survey records
- Buyer matching and unit sale process with price benchmarking
- Stacking assessment against carbon codes, nutrient credits and public schemes
In the field
Biodiversity net gain, 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.
Biodiversity Net Gain — a walkthrough
A working pass through biodiversity net gain: 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.
In practice
Six things Biodiversity Net Gain changes on day one
None of these requires a new process. They all come from recording the work you already do, once, in a form the rest of the platform can use.
Baseline habitat assessment using the
Baseline habitat assessment using the statutory biodiversity metric.
Habitat condition assessment following the
Habitat condition assessment following the published criteria.
Uplift modelling across habitat creation
Uplift modelling across habitat creation and enhancement options.
Unit calculation with distinctiveness, condition
Unit calculation with distinctiveness, condition, strategic significance and risk multipliers.
Spatial risk multiplier handling for
Spatial risk multiplier handling for off-site delivery.
Income modelling against the agricultural
Income modelling against the agricultural margin forgone over thirty years.
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.
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.
Biodiversity unit calculator following the statutory metric structure
Biodiversity unit calculator following the statutory metric structure
CalculatorThirty-year income versus forgone agricultural margin comparator
Thirty-year income versus forgone agricultural margin comparator
ToolHabitat creation option ranker by units generated per hectare
Habitat creation option ranker by units generated per hectare
ToolGain site registration readiness checklist
Gain site registration readiness checklist
ToolMonitoring schedule generator across the full commitment period
Monitoring schedule generator across the full commitment period
ToolPayment schedule
What is due, and when it lands
Farm support arrives in instalments from several bodies on different calendars. Set against your own overdraft, the question is not how much but when — so the ledger is ordered by date, not by scheme.
| When | Payment | From | Amount | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| February | Biodiversity Net Gain | Natural England / local planning authorities | — | Expected |
| March | Countryside Stewardship | Defra / Natural England / Rural Payments Agency | — | Agreed |
| June | Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Eligible |
| June | Environmental Land Management Capital Grants | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Eligible |
| December | Farming Equipment and Technology Fund | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Eligible |
| February | Farming Transformation Fund | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Eligible |
- — Agreed and scheduled
- — Claimed, awaiting payment
- — Eligible, unclaimed
What the statuses mean
- Agreed
- Under a signed agreement with a scheduled payment date.
- Expected
- Claimed and assessed; payment date per the published standard.
- Eligible
- Your holding appears to qualify but nothing is claimed yet.
Compared
Where Agrivencia differs from what already exists
The UK already has strong point tools. What it does not have is one record spanning them, or one view spanning four nations. That gap is the entire proposition.
| Agrivencia | Single-purpose farm software | Government portals | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Covers all four nations | Yes, each as a first-class tenancy | Usually one nation | One administration each |
| One record across domains | Yes — 84 modules, one data spine | Within its own domain only | Within its own scheme only |
| Scheme rules held as data | Yes, updated the day rules change | Rarely | Authoritative but not reusable |
| Assurance evidence auto-assembled | Yes, from operational records | Partially, per scheme | Not applicable |
| Whole-farm income optimisation | Across schemes and nature markets together | No | No |
| Offline field capture | Yes, designed first | Varies | Generally no |
| Marketplace and commerce | Multivendor with verification and escrow | Separate platforms | Not applicable |
| Farmer-owned data export | Published charter, open formats | Varies considerably | Limited |
This comparison describes categories of product rather than named competitors, and reflects our own assessment. Any specific product should be evaluated on its current published capability.
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.
- Habitat parcel
- Baseline assessment
- Condition score
- Uplift plan
- Biodiversity unit
- Gain site registration
- Legal agreement
- Monitoring record
- Unit sale
Every entity carries a full audit trail and is exportable in open formats under the Farm Data Charter.
Questions answered
What people ask about Biodiversity Net Gain
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 Biodiversity Net Gain 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?
Thirty-year obligation misunderstood at signature. Mitigated by explicit long-horizon modelling. We would rather state that plainly than let you discover it after signing.
See Biodiversity Net Gain 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