Research, Trials & Open Data
Research & Data: For Advisers & Agents
What Research & Data changes for agronomists, agents, vets and consultants.
Advisers need scoped access, defensible records and a way to work across a client base without re-keying. Publicly funded agricultural research produces results that rarely reach the farms that need them, and farms generate data that rarely reaches the researchers who could use it. This module connects the two: on-farm trial hosting, structured protocols, consented data contribution and plain-language access to published findings relevant to the holding.
In their words
What the job actually looks like
These are not marketing personas. Each one is a distinct job with a distinct constraint, and the module is designed so that solving one does not create work for the others.
Policy analyst
Evidence for scheme design
Needs real practice and outcome data rather than modelled assumptions.
- Register interest and enterprise profile
- Match to open trial and research opportunities
- Agree the protocol and consent terms
- Deliver the trial and capture measurements
Levy body analyst
Sector statistics
Needs consented aggregate data at scale.
- Match to open trial and research opportunities
- Agree the protocol and consent terms
- Deliver the trial and capture measurements
- Contribute consented data
Agricultural researcher
Field experiments
Needs suitable sites and consistent measurement.
- Agree the protocol and consent terms
- Deliver the trial and capture measurements
- Contribute consented data
- Receive results in plain language
End to end
How Research & Data 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 interest and enterprise profile
This is where the record starts, and getting it right here removes work at every later stage.
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2
Match to open trial and research opportunities
The platform prompts only for what this stage genuinely needs, and carries everything forward.
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3
Agree the protocol and consent terms
Conflicts with scheme rules, regulatory windows and existing commitments are flagged here rather than discovered later.
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4
Deliver the trial and capture measurements
Capture works offline, so this stage is completed in the field rather than remembered afterwards.
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5
Contribute consented data
Everything recorded at this point becomes evidence automatically, in every format that will later ask for it.
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6
Receive results in plain language
This is the stage most businesses currently do twice, once for the operation and once for the paperwork.
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7
Apply findings on the holding
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
Review and renew consent
The cycle closes here, and what is learned is carried into next season's plan rather than lost.
Capabilities
What Research & Data 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
- On-farm trial hosting with protocol, layout and measurement requirements
- Trial recruitment matching researchers to suitable holdings
- Structured measurement capture following the trial protocol
Operate and monitor
- Consented anonymised data contribution with granular controls
- Data contribution register showing exactly what was shared and with whom
- Plain-language research summaries filtered to your enterprises and region
Comply and evidence
- Research funding opportunity alerts for farmer-led programmes
- Collaboration workspace between farms, researchers and advisers
- Results publication with honest reporting of null and negative findings
Analyse and improve
- Open dataset access for platform-derived aggregate statistics
- Citizen science protocol delivery at scale
- Data portability so a farm can take its own data elsewhere
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.
Worked example
How a business like yours would use Research & Data
The problem: Wants results back in a usable form, not just to supply a site.
What they do
- Register interest and enterprise profile
- Match to open trial and research opportunities
- Agree the protocol and consent terms
- Deliver the trial and capture measurements
What changes
- Trials hosted
- Data contributions consented
- Research summaries read and applied
This is an illustrative worked example built from the module design, not a customer reference. Named case studies are published only with the business's written consent.
What we are hearing
The problems people describe to us
These are composite statements drawn from user research conversations, not attributed customer quotes. We publish named references only with written consent.
I am not short of software. I am short of one place where the same field means the same thing in all of it.
The scheme closed on a Tuesday evening. I had the application half built. Nobody told me the budget was nearly gone.
We farm on both sides of the border. Everything takes twice as long and I still cannot see the whole position on one screen.
Audit week costs me three days. Every single record they ask for is already written down somewhere on this farm.
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.
- 01Trials hosted
- 02Data contributions consented
- 03Research summaries read and applied
- 04Practice changes attributed to research
- 05Null results published
Stay ahead of the windows
The Agrivencia Briefing
A short weekly email on what changed in UK farm policy and what it means for a working business.