Grant & Scheme Engine
Scheme Engine: How It Works
The end-to-end sequence, stage by stage, with nothing skipped.
The module is modelled as an explicit state machine with 8 stages. Every record knows which stage it is at, what has to happen to move on, and what is blocking it if it cannot. The flagship module and the reason the platform exists. One engine that discovers every scheme a business is eligible for across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, models the income under competing options, pre-fills the application from records the platform already holds, and warns before a window closes rather than after.
End to end
How Scheme Engine 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
Establish the business and holding identity
This is where the record starts, and getting it right here removes work at every later stage.
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2
Import land, cropping and livestock records
The platform prompts only for what this stage genuinely needs, and carries everything forward.
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3
Run eligibility across all four nations
Conflicts with scheme rules, regulatory windows and existing commitments are flagged here rather than discovered later.
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4
Model income under competing options
Capture works offline, so this stage is completed in the field rather than remembered afterwards.
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5
Optimise within caps and stacking rules
Everything recorded at this point becomes evidence automatically, in every format that will later ask for it.
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6
Pre-fill and submit the application
This is the stage most businesses currently do twice, once for the operation and once for the paperwork.
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7
Track window status and budget fill
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
Manage the agreement, evidence, claim and payment
The cycle closes here, and what is learned is carried into next season's plan rather than lost.
Sequence
The order things happen in
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Stage 1
Establish the business and holding identity
This is where the record starts, and getting it right here removes work at every later stage.
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Stage 2
Import land, cropping and livestock records
The platform prompts only for what this stage genuinely needs, and carries everything forward.
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Stage 3
Run eligibility across all four nations
Conflicts with scheme rules, regulatory windows and existing commitments are flagged here rather than discovered later.
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Stage 4
Model income under competing options
Capture works offline, so this stage is completed in the field rather than remembered afterwards.
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Stage 5
Optimise within caps and stacking rules
Everything recorded at this point becomes evidence automatically, in every format that will later ask for it.
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Stage 6
Pre-fill and submit the application
This is the stage most businesses currently do twice, once for the operation and once for the paperwork.
Before you start
What you will need, and what the module handles for you
Most of this comes across automatically once your holding is registered. The list is here so nothing arrives as a surprise.
In practice
Six things Scheme Engine 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.
Complete four-nation scheme catalogue with
Complete four-nation scheme catalogue with objectives, eligibility, rates and windows.
Eligibility engine keyed on business
Eligibility engine keyed on business, holding, land parcel and enterprise data.
Rules-as-data architecture so a scheme
Rules-as-data architecture so a scheme change is a data update, not an engineering release.
Whole-farm income optimiser across scheme
Whole-farm income optimiser across scheme actions subject to caps and area limits.
Cross-scheme double-funding and permitted-stacking rule
Cross-scheme double-funding and permitted-stacking rule checking.
Application pre-fill from the platform
Application pre-fill from the platform land, cropping and livestock records.
Obligation calendar
What scheme engine asks of you, and when
Windows, deadlines and recurring obligations for England. Set a different nation and the calendar reconfigures; farm across a border and it shows both, reconciled.
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January 1 entry
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11 January: Scottish Base and Enhanced Level Direct Payments
Annual application, single application form.
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March 3 entries
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3 March: Run eligibility across all four nations
A recurring step in scheme engine.
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15 March: Import land, cropping and livestock records
A recurring step in scheme engine.
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16 March: Farm Sustainability Payment
Application from early March with a deadline in mid-May.
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May 1 entry
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26 May: Sustainable Farming Scheme
Scheme year runs to 31 December, with the single application form deadline in mid-May.
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June 3 entries
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5 June: Farming Transformation Fund
Round-based by theme.
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6 June: Model income under competing options
A recurring step in scheme engine.
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15 June: Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026
Two windows in 2026: window one from 30 June, window two from September.
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July 1 entry
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14 July: Slurry Infrastructure Grant
Round-based.
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August 1 entry
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2 August: Establish the business and holding identity
A recurring step in scheme engine.
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October 1 entry
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5 October: Farming Equipment and Technology Fund
Round-based, usually open for a defined application period.
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November 2 entries
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12 November: Improving Farm Productivity Grant
Round-based.
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27 November: Environmental Land Management Capital Grants
Round-based, with rapid allocation once open.
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December 1 entry
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26 December: Countryside Stewardship
Rolling and round-based depending on the tier and option group.
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Questions answered
What people ask about Scheme Engine
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 Scheme Engine 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?
Abrupt mid-window scheme closure. Mitigated by budget-fill gauges and early warning. We would rather state that plainly than let you discover it after signing.
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.
See Scheme Engine 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