For farmers & land managers · UK
Evidence for every field — for the Land Use Framework, your scheme options, and your buyers
England now expects land-use decisions to be made on evidence, not assumption — and your scheme funding and your buyers increasingly do too. EcoIntel scores the health of your land field by field, back to 2018, so every decision and every claim rests on something measured.
Reviewed June 2026
The Land Use Framework: decisions on evidence, not assumption
In March 2026 the Government published England's first Land Use Framework. Its premise is that land-use decisions should balance food, nature, carbon and water on evidence rather than assumption, and that public money should flow to where it will actually deliver. EcoIntel supplies the field-level evidence that decision needs.
For any holding, it scores ecological condition field by field, back to 2018, identifies which of the four ecosystem processes is the limiting factor on each field, and benchmarks each one against what is realistically achievable in its own ecoregion. That lets you see which parcels are best kept in production, which are genuine candidates for restoration, trees or water management, and whether a change is actually improving the land over time rather than just being claimed.
Status: the Land Use Framework is adopted (published 18 March 2026) and is England-only — Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own regimes.
Choose your scheme options — and prove them
Public funding is moving toward outcomes, and the schemes have changed. The reformed SFI26 reopens in 2026 (Window 1 in June, prioritising smaller farms; Window 2 in September); Capital Grants reopen in July; Countryside Stewardship Higher Tier is invitation-only. Whatever you apply for, the case rests on the state of each field.
EcoIntel gives you a dated baseline and a trajectory for every parcel — the evidence to choose the options that fit each field, to justify a land-use change, and to show the land is improving once you have made it. As schemes and private payments move to results-based, that dated record of measured improvement is the asset.
EcoIntel provides the evidence; it does not administer the schemes. SFI26 / Capital Grants details are England-specific and set by Defra.
Answer your buyers — without the paperwork
Even with no UK law compelling it, the questions still come: retailers and processors with net-zero and nature commitments, Scope 3 supply-chain requests, and EU-headquartered buyers passing CSRD requirements down the chain. As a farm you are almost certainly not legally in scope — but you increasingly have to answer, or risk preferred-supplier status, premiums and favourable finance.
- Low cost, little of your time — one map upload, and the satellite does the rest. No field visits, no sensors, no consultant day-rate.
- Independent — satellite-measured, not self-reported — evidence an auditor and a buyer will accept.
- Weekly-resolution — weather-corrected, with history back to 2018.
It turns a compliance ask into market access: proof you are improving, a basis for premiums, and an asset for lenders and insurers.
The framework-mapped data points are in your dashboard today. The packaged ESG-readiness Evidence Pack — the dated artefact you hand a buyer, lender or scheme — ships early H2 2026; Annual Founding-Member subscribers receive each release. See ESG-readiness and pricing.
We're an ADP, not an MRV
EcoIntel is an ADP — Assessment, Diagnostics, Practical guidance — not an MRV platform. It gives you the evidence of your land's condition and carbon; it does not issue verified carbon credits. And statutory Biodiversity Net Gain needs a qualified ecologist on the ground — EcoIntel is complementary screening, not the statutory survey.
A buyer or corporate rather than a farm? See land and nature evidence for UK disclosure teams. In the EU? See ESG-readiness for EU farms.
Position — reviewed June 2026
- England Land Use Framework — adopted 18 Mar 2026 (England-only).
- SFI26 / Capital Grants — in force, phased: SFI26 reopens June/September 2026; Capital Grants July 2026; CSHT invitation-only.
- Buyer / market requests — contractual, not a legal mandate on the farm.
- Biodiversity Net Gain — law (development); statutory metric requires a ground ecologist.
Frequently asked
Is the Land Use Framework something I have to comply with?
No — it is England’s strategic framework guiding land-use decisions and where public money flows, not a rule you file against. But it makes field-level evidence the currency of good decisions and funding, which is exactly what EcoIntel provides.
Can I apply for SFI right now?
SFI 2024 closed to new applicants in March 2025. The reformed SFI26 reopens in 2026 — Window 1 in June (prioritising smaller farms) and Window 2 in September. EcoIntel’s dated baseline and condition evidence help you choose the options that fit each field and prove improvement over time.
Will this take much of my time?
No — it is one map upload, and the satellite does the rest: no field visits, no sensors, no consultant day-rates.
Can EcoIntel do my Biodiversity Net Gain?
No — statutory BNG needs a qualified ecologist’s on-the-ground habitat survey using the official metric. EcoIntel provides complementary screening — where to look, and the starting condition — not the statutory survey.
Does EcoIntel sell carbon credits for me?
No. EcoIntel is an ADP — a diagnostic platform — not an MRV platform; it gives you the evidence of your land’s condition and carbon, not verified credits.
See your land, field by field
Open the free demo, or talk to us about Founding-Member access for your farm.