Climate, Nature & Carbon
Habitat & Species Recovery
Habitat created, species monitored, outcomes evidenced.
Public schemes increasingly pay for habitat and species outcomes rather than actions, which requires monitoring most farms have never done. This module plans habitat creation and management, runs structured species monitoring including citizen-science protocols, and produces the outcome evidence that outcome-based payment depends on.
- 12 capabilities
- 5 linked schemes
- Offline capable
- 12
- Capabilities in this module
- 5
- Interactive tools
- 5
- Linked support schemes
- 5
- Data integrations
- 5
- Measures reported
The ground reality
What is actually happening in nature recovery in the UK
The Environmental Improvement Plan commits to restoring or creating 250,000 hectares of wildlife-rich habitat outside protected sites by 2030 and to doubling the number of farms providing year-round wildlife resources by 2030, to be delivered through the main scheme offers. Agri-environment agreements already cover an estimated 6.1 million hectares, around 69 per cent of England's utilised agricultural area, which makes outcome evidence the binding constraint rather than participation.
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
Nature recovery, 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.
Nature Recovery — a walkthrough
A working pass through nature recovery: 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 Nature Recovery 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
- Habitat creation and management planning by habitat type
- Species-specific management prescriptions for priority species
- Winter bird food, nectar and nesting resource planning through the year
Operate and monitor
- Structured species monitoring protocols with repeat transects and points
- Breeding bird, butterfly, pollinator and botanical survey recording
- Citizen science and volunteer survey coordination
Comply and evidence
- Habitat condition assessment against published criteria
- Outcome evidence assembly for outcome-based payment
- Designated site management including SSSI condition obligations
Analyse and improve
- Landscape-scale coordination with neighbouring holdings and clusters
- Invasive non-native species control planning and recording
- Public access, interpretation and engagement management
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.
Habitat map showing type, condition and management prescription
Habitat map showing type, condition and management prescription
MapYear-round resource calendar identifying the hungry gap on the holding
Year-round resource calendar identifying the hungry gap on the holding
ToolSpecies monitoring recorder with transect navigation and offline capture
Species monitoring recorder with transect navigation and offline capture
ToolOutcome dashboard showing measured change against agreement targets
Outcome dashboard showing measured change against agreement targets
DashboardCluster coordination view across neighbouring holdings
Cluster coordination view across neighbouring holdings
ToolEnd to end
How Nature Recovery 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.
-
1
Assess existing habitat and species baseline
This is where the record starts, and getting it right here removes work at every later stage.
-
2
Plan creation and management by habitat type
The platform prompts only for what this stage genuinely needs, and carries everything forward.
-
3
Identify resource gaps through the year
Conflicts with scheme rules, regulatory windows and existing commitments are flagged here rather than discovered later.
-
4
Deliver the management
Capture works offline, so this stage is completed in the field rather than remembered afterwards.
-
5
Monitor on standardised protocols
Everything recorded at this point becomes evidence automatically, in every format that will later ask for it.
-
6
Assess condition against criteria
This is the stage most businesses currently do twice, once for the operation and once for the paperwork.
-
7
Assemble outcome evidence
Results feed the whole-farm view, so the effect of this stage is visible against the rest of the business.
-
8
Report and adapt management
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.
Scheme agreement holder
Higher tier agreement
Needs outcome evidence collected consistently through the year.
Farmer cluster facilitator
Landscape-scale delivery
Needs coordinated monitoring across many holdings.
Ecologist
Survey and assessment
Needs standardised protocols and repeatable survey locations.
Volunteer surveyor
Citizen science
Needs a simple, guided recording flow that works offline.
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.
Countryside Stewardship
Fund more complex, targeted and bespoke habitat management than the main incentive offer supports.
Defra / Natural England / Rural Payments Agency EnglandSustainable 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 EnglandLandscape Recovery
Fund long-term, large-scale, bespoke land use change projects delivering significant environmental outcomes.
Defra / Natural England Northern IrelandEnvironmental Farming Scheme
Fund environmental land management across higher, wider and group levels in Northern Ireland.
DAERA ScotlandAgri-Environment Climate Scheme
Fund targeted habitat, species and water quality management in Scotland.
Scottish Government / Rural Payments and Inspections DivisionRates, 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.
- 01Hectares of habitat created
- 02Species richness change
- 03Condition targets achieved
- 04Surveys completed on protocol
- 05Outcome payments secured
Payment 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| March | Countryside Stewardship | Defra / Natural England / Rural Payments Agency | — | Expected |
| June | Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 | Defra / Rural Payments Agency | — | Agreed |
| June | Landscape Recovery | Defra / Natural England | — | Eligible |
| March | Environmental Farming Scheme | DAERA | — | Eligible |
| March | Agri-Environment Climate Scheme | Scottish Government / Rural Payments and Inspections Division | — | Eligible |
| June | Environmental Land Management Capital Grants | 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.
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.
-
Hectares of habitat created
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 33 Median 61 Upper quartile 80
-
Species richness change
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 24 Median 60 Upper quartile 82
-
Condition targets achieved
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 20 Median 55 Upper quartile 70
-
Surveys completed on protocol
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 35 Median 62 Upper quartile 70
-
Outcome payments secured
Your figure appears hereLower quartile 25 Median 61 Upper quartile 77
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 Nature Recovery
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 Nature Recovery 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?
Monitoring burden causing abandonment. Mitigated by fast offline capture and volunteer coordination. 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.
Evidencing Outcomes: Habitat and Species Monitoring on a Working Farm
The practical handbook for nature recovery: what the rules require, what the evidence has to show, and the mistakes that cost people money.
nature recovery — evidence checklist
Every document an audit or a claim asks for, in the order it is asked for, with the validity period of each.
nature recovery — 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 nature recovery, for advisers and software partners.
See Nature Recovery 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