Overview
In this guidance, we cover the key functions that can help you and neighbouring farms prepare for Landscape Recovery. We will consolidate our key guidance documents for how every farm in the UK can join the movement, and be prepared for the Digital Transformation in the Rural Land Sector.
The key reasons to use Land App for Landscape Recovery:
Quickly identify where grouped land parcels fit together
Control and own your data ownership with an industry-leading permissions structure
Easy drawing tools for designing plans
Visualise the plans through Map of Maps
In England, Landscape Recovery states:
"You must provide at least 3 maps of your project as part of your application. These should show:
Who owns and manages land across the project area - You’ll need to link this with evidenced support from all land managers using the ID numbers in the land manager support form. You can look at our example plan area and land manager support map. If you cannot get support from any land managers then this land should not be included in your application.
The current land use across the project area, for example showing pasture, arable land, woodland and any noteworthy existing habitats or features.
The proposed land use across the project area. You can use an indicative plan and set out how you’ll refine it during the development phase, for example, to determine the best location for specific activities".
Source: Application guidance here, Landscape Recovery Phase 2, Defra.
This guidance will follow this framework, preparing your Land App maps for all the above, and more. We recently ran a webinar that explains all of the below:
Case study: See how Land App is being used in a Staffordshire Landscape Recovery - Trialling farmer-led land management plans at Aqualate Mere, Staffordshire.
Best Practice
While building your maps, please follow these golden rules:
All maps and plans should be named consistently [guidance].
You should create a separate map per "Management Unit" (e.g. each block of land managed by a different individual, such as a Tenant).
Invite all relevant collaborators [guidance] to that map either as:
Read-only; they can view the data, turn on data layers but cannot edit (e.g. for untrained farmers)
Edit-access; they can edit, delete and update plans (e.g. advisors and trained farmers).
Use "Map of Maps" [guidance] to view the data at a Landscape Scale. Avoid creating "replica" maps.
When editing features, where possible split/merge/buffer, rather than freehand drawing features - this keeps data clean and avoids overlap.
Avoid duplication; if a member farm or estate already has a Land App map, use their map as a source of truth and request to be an Editor. Publishing to Map of Maps will keep your data layers relevant as the changes at the farm level occur.
Example map:
A short YouTube Video on how to set up a Farm Map can be found here:
Key Templates to use
The three "digital layers" will underpin the future transition, and it is Land App's ambition to support all farms through this process.
Category | Template type (s) | Description |
Ownership Boundary | OWN or OMP | The complete extent of all the parcels that are under the ownership |
Existing Land Cover | BPS, CSS, BHA | A complete extent of all the land covers, habitats and cropping rotations that fall within the farm / estate. |
Future Vision | CSS, LMP | A scenario plan of where future change could or should happen. This is the KEY layer for future investment. |
(BPS = Basic Payment Scheme, CSS = Countryside Stewardship, ESS = Environmental Stewardship, BLANK = Blank Template, OWN = Ownership Template, OMP = Ownership Management Plan)
Minimum Entry-Requirement (for England Only)
This step-by-step process will allow you to quickly onboard new farms ready to partake in a Landscape Recovery project.
Create a new map per farmer/tenant / in-hand land [guidance], following naming convention [guidance].
Import the farm/ estate field parcels using their Single Business Identifier (SBI) to a Basic Payment Scheme [guidance]:
Import RPA Land Cover and Hedges
Choose Basic Payment Template
Name plan correctly [guidance]
Ground-truth the Land Cover and Hedges by applying crop and land-use codes to each feature.
Assigning a new code to a parcel [guidance]
Keep it field level for now (e.g. don't worry about mapping every plot / margin - this will come later!).
Use the snap-to-line when drawing new features (e.g. a hedgerow) [guidance]
Create an authoritative Ownership Boundary for the entire area under management/ownership. When you download the RPA data, some areas (such as woodland or buildings) will be excluded. It is key to get the full extent. A Step-by-step walkthrough can be found here (from 14:00 minutes).
Use the Data Import tool to create an "Ownership Boundary" layer using Land Registry data [guidance]
Dissolve all the shapes together to get a single, clean polygon representing the entire ownership.
You can use the existing Land Cover layer and dissolve them together (see Step-by-step above).
To tidy up any "artefacts", you can use the "subtract" tool [Step guidance]
PUBLISH all the above layers to Map of Maps [guidance].
You can now see the Landscape Recovery group as a group layer.
Please note you need to be on the Standard Subscription to see the group map.
By using Map of Maps, instead of sharing data files (e.g. PDF maps or static files), as your plans develop, you are never working from an old copy.
Next steps - getting investment ready
The next key layers to create are where the farm/ estate is interested in doing something different; aka a Land Management Plan.
For England, we would recommend doing this as a Countryside Stewardship layer:
Create a Countryside Stewardship plan [guidance]
Draw on features that *could* be there in the future (e.g. where a new hedge, fence, pond or wildflower strip could be).
NOTE: this does not necessarily mean that the individual goes into Countryside Stewardship - it is just a common language for farms to understand practically what they could do.
Then aggregate the entire Landscape Recovery through the Map of Maps function [guidance].
Subscribe to Land App Professional to access our Reports Dashboard that instantly summarises the total areas across the entire project, including a fully formatted map of the Landscape Recovery group [guidance].
Other useful layers - Digital Farm Mapping
Mapping farm or infrastructure (e.g. water and drainage) using the BLANK Template
As farms change hands, and knowledge is lost, it is key to map all existing land drains, stopcocks, cables, and our BLANK template has these codes ready to use [guidance].
Create a Data Layer Report for each farm [guidance] which highlights;
Risks (e.g. flood zones and Nitrate Vulnerable Zones)
Designations (e.g. SSSI and Scheduled Monuments)
Opportunities (e.g. EWCO Targeting or Great Crested Newts)
FAQs
FAQs
What subscription do I need to be on to complete this process?
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For those facilitating the group (e.g. lead farmers or advisors) at a minimum, you will need to be on a Standard Subscription (£10 per user per month), but we recommend you join the Professional Subscription (£30 per user per month) by contacting sales@thelandapp.com.
All farm members can be using the FREE software to get involved with this process.
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If I struggle with Digital Mapping, is there someone who can support me?
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Yes, there are plenty of individuals that can help. Please contact support@thelandapp.com
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Is this data useful for other applications or funding streams?
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Yes, this data can be used for a number of funding streams, such as Nutrient Neutrality, Biodiversity Offsetting and Corporate Sponsorship (such as supermarkets, banks and water companies). We will be releasing more case-studies over the next few months on how users are moving through this process.
When to use which template:
Template type | Description | Priority |
BPS | Land cover map showing broad habitat types (e.g. cropland, woodland, buildings). | MUST |
CSS | Map of FUTURE interventions, where new stewardship options could go. | MUST |
CSS / ESS | Map of existing stewardship options (either Countryside Stewardship or Environmental Stewardship). | SHOULD |
BLANK | Risk map of where certain fields are of high, medium and low soil risk | SHOULD |
OWN | The complete extent of all the parcels that are under the ownership | MUST |
OMP | A breakdown of the ownership by tenancy type, in-hand, enterprises and conveyances. | COULD |
BLANK | Infrastructure map of existing features (fencing, gates, water pipes, etc) | COULD |
Got any comments, or things to add? Please contact us at support@thelandapp.com