Precision agriculture uses satellite positioning data, remote sensing devices and proximal data-gathering technologies to transform how farms are managed. It enables an information-based decision-making approach to farm management, to optimise returns on inputs. Simply put, enabling more to be done with less.

Unlike previous agricultural revolutions, which have focused on further intensification and standardisation, precision agriculture offers a new set of tools. It is not about drastically increasing yields, but tailoring the cultivation of each square foot: adopting a ‘per plant’ ‘per animal’ approach.

This revolution in data available to the farmer, in contrast to those before it, has particular potential for the family farm, a threatened feature of the British countryside.

But what exactly will this farm of the future look like? We've produced an infographic featuring some of the tech that lies behind this revolution.

Download a high resolution version of this graphic

Many of these innovations are already well established on UK farms. Others are becoming increasingly accessible to smaller and medium-sized operations, though full adoption across the sector remains uneven;  uptake is still significantly higher on larger farms than on family-scale operations.

As calculated in our first accompanying blog post, precision agriculture could increase the earnings of an average farm by almost 20%. Our second post describes how the UK family farm will require more than just a fall in the price of tech for the drone to replace the dog.

With the phasing out of EU direct payments following Brexit, the UK government has introduced the Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI), most recently relaunched as SFI26, which rewards farmers for measurable, delivery-based environmental outcomes. 

Precision agriculture tools align closely with what the scheme requires:

• Accurate data, 
• Targeted application
• Verifiable results. 

The government has also committed £50 million through the Farming Equipment and Technology Fund (FETF 2026) to support the adoption of precision tools, monitoring systems, and robotics. Cost and complexity remain barriers, particularly for smaller family farms, but the financial and policy case for adoption has strengthened considerably.

Click through the blocks below to learn more about each precision agriculture technology.