Project Overview
A UK arable farming cooperative with 340 member farms covering 42,000 hectares of crop production wanted to bu...
Technology Stack
Compliance & Standards
The Challenge
A UK arable farming cooperative with 340 member farms covering 42,000 hectares of crop production wanted to build a precision farming decision platform — integrating satellite imagery, soil sensor data, weather forecasting, and variable rate application recommendations. DEFRA's Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) evidence requirements, UK GDPR for member farm operational data, and AHDB (Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board) data standards were the requirements. Budget: £95,000.
Our Approach
Satellite Imagery and Normalised Difference Vegetation Index
Sentinel-2 satellite imagery (10m resolution, free via Copernicus Open Access Hub API): NDVI (Normalised Difference Vegetation Index) calculation per field.
NDVI change detection
week-on-week NDVI change map highlights crop stress areas before they are visible to the naked eye.
Field boundary delineation
OS MasterMap and RPA LPIS field parcel data as boundaries.
Imagery refresh
every 5–12 days (weather permitting) per field, stored per field per season.
Soil Sensor and IoT Integration
METER Group soil moisture sensors (LoRaWAN connected, 30cm depth): real-time soil moisture per field zone.
Field variability mapping
EMI (electromagnetic induction) soil survey data imported from Farm Survey results (SEAMS — Soil Environmental Assessment and Management System).
Variable rate application zones
k-means clustering algorithm (Python scikit-learn) applied to combined soil variability + NDVI data to generate variable rate application prescription maps.
DEFRA Sustainable Farming Incentive
farmers must evidence soil health management, nutrient management, and integrated pest management actions.
Platform generates SFI evidence packs automatically
soil organic matter trend (from sensor data), field-level nutrient application records (from prescription maps + machinery data), integrated pest management decision logs, and satellite crop health monitoring as evidence of crop monitoring action.
Annual SFI evidence pack
auto-generated PDF.
UK GDPR Farm Data Architecture
Each cooperative member farm is a separate legal entity — their operational data (field locations, yields, agrochemical applications, financial performance) is personal data for sole trader farms.
Data governance
cooperative data controller agreement, farm data DPA, and clear data minimisation (only operational data required for precision farming decisions — no commercial sharing without explicit farm consent).
Data portability
farm can export all their data in machine-readable format on demand.
The Results
Platform live at 16 weeks, £88,000 — under budget.
Member farm adoption: 78% active users at 6 months.
NDVI stress detection: 34 crop stress events identified early — average 12 days earlier than visual inspection.
Variable rate nitrogen application: average 14% reduction in fertiliser use across participating farms (AHDB benchmark: 8%).
SFI evidence pack: automated for 290 member farms.
DEFRA audit: SFI evidence pack format accepted without revision.
“14% fertiliser reduction is the headline. At cooperative scale — 42,000 hectares — that is an enormous cost saving and environmental benefit. The SFI evidence pack accepted by DEFRA without revision means our members' subsidy payments are secured. 34 early stress detections prevented crop losses that would have far exceeded the platform cost." — CEO, UK Arable Cooperative (name withheld)”
Project Details
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