TELUS Agriculture is migrating Gatekeeper users to its new platform, TELUS Crop Management. The simplest farms moved in 2025. Complex businesses are migrating through mid-2026. If you have been on Gatekeeper for years and the forced migration feels like the wrong time or the wrong platform, here are the alternatives available to UK farms right now.
The Gatekeeper migration is not optional. TELUS has stated that its investment and development focus has shifted to TELUS Crop Management. Gatekeeper does not have a formal end-of-life date, but the roadmap is clear: no new features, maintenance-only support, and an expectation that users will migrate.
The concerns farmers raise tend to fall into three categories:
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The strongest like-for-like alternative for arable farms. Omnia has evolved from a precision farming tool into a full farm management system with satellite imagery, variable rate application planning, soil analysis, and field-level crop recording. It is map-based, data-driven, and built by the UK's largest independent agrochemical distributor.
The trade-off: Omnia is typically available as part of a Hutchinsons agronomy relationship rather than as a standalone software purchase. If you already work with Hutchinsons, this is a natural move. If you do not, the software comes with a broader commercial relationship.
Best for: Arable farms wanting comprehensive crop recording and precision agriculture in one platform, particularly those already working with Hutchinsons.
The newest serious entrant in the UK market. xFarm partnered with Dyson Farming in late 2024 and is targeting 700,000 hectares of UK coverage within three years. The app is clean, mobile-first, and designed for simplicity: field recording, crop planning, input tracking, and basic compliance logs.
xFarm offers a free tier for basic field recording, making it low-risk to trial. The question for Gatekeeper migrants is whether xFarm's UK-specific compliance features (SFI evidence capture, Red Tractor audit trails, BCMS/LIS integration) are mature enough. The platform originates from European regulatory frameworks, and the UK compliance layer is still developing.
Best for: Smaller arable farms wanting a modern, simple interface. Early adopters comfortable with a platform still building its UK feature set. The free tier makes it easy to test before committing.
A different proposition entirely. Soil Benchmark focuses on soil health data, carbon accounting, and environmental scheme record-keeping. It does not replace Gatekeeper's full crop recording capability, but for farms where the primary software need has shifted from spray logs to SFI evidence and sustainability metrics, it fills a gap that Gatekeeper never prioritised.
Best for: Farms entering SFI agreements that need soil testing evidence, carbon baselines, and environmental outcome tracking. Use alongside another system for operational crop recording.
If your Gatekeeper use was primarily for compliance on a mixed farm with livestock, Herdwatch is the strongest dedicated livestock platform. Over 18,000 UK farms use it. It has confirmed integration with the new Livestock Information Service for the summer 2026 cattle rollout, handles ScotEID, and starts at around £119 per year with a free tier available.
Herdwatch does not handle arable crop recording. For mixed farms, it replaces the livestock half of what Gatekeeper did, and you would need a separate system for crops.
Best for: Beef, suckler, sheep, and dairy farms that were using Gatekeeper primarily for livestock compliance. Full livestock software comparison.
A UK-based farm accounting and management software provider with a long heritage. SUM-IT is strongest on the financial management side: farm accounts, budgeting, cashflow, VAT, and management reporting. For farms where Gatekeeper was used alongside Farmplan for accounting, SUM-IT can replace the accounting component as an independent UK provider outside the TELUS ecosystem.
Best for: Farm businesses that need accounting software from an independent UK provider, particularly those wanting to reduce TELUS dependency across their entire software stack.
A long-established UK arable farm management system with a loyal user base. Focused on field records, spray applications, and crop planning. Less feature-rich than Gatekeeper at its peak, but stable, familiar to UK arable farmers, and independent of the TELUS ecosystem.
Best for: Arable farms that want a proven, independent UK platform for field records without the complexity or vendor risk of the TELUS migration.
| Platform | Type | Pricing | LIS Integration | SFI Evidence | Key Limitation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hutchinsons Omnia | Arable / precision | Bundled with agronomy | N/A (crop-focused) | Partial | Requires Hutchinsons relationship |
| xFarm | Arable / mixed | Free tier + paid plans | Not confirmed | Developing | UK compliance features still maturing |
| Soil Benchmark | Environmental / soil | Varies | N/A | Strong | Not a full crop management system |
| Herdwatch | Livestock | From ~£119/year | Confirmed | N/A | No crop recording |
| SUM-IT | Accounts / management | Varies | N/A | N/A | Financial management, not field records |
| Landmark Geofolia | Arable | Varies | N/A | Partial | Less feature-rich than Gatekeeper |
| Bespoke (ESRE) | All-in-one | £15,000-£30,000 one-off | Can integrate directly | Built to spec | Requires development time |
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There is a case for following the TELUS migration path. If TELUS Crop Management delivers on its promise, you get a modern platform with your historical data migrated, continued UK-based support, and the backing of a well-funded parent company. The risk is in the transition itself and in the long-term pricing power a near-monopoly vendor holds.
There is also a case for treating the forced migration as a natural breakpoint. If you have been meaning to reassess your farm software for years but inertia kept you on Gatekeeper, the migration is the moment to look at the full picture rather than simply following the default path.
For farms where Gatekeeper was always a compromise (too much of what you did not need, not enough of what you did), the migration is an opportunity to build something that fits. A bespoke system built around your holding integrates directly with the LIS API, captures SFI evidence to the exact specification DEFRA inspectors expect, and handles whatever combination of enterprises your farm actually runs.
The cost is a one-off capital investment of £15,000-£30,000, with no recurring subscription fees. For a farm currently spending £1,000-£2,000 per year across multiple software subscriptions, the payback period is typically three to four years, after which the ongoing cost is zero. You own the code, you own the data, and when DEFRA changes the rules again, you update your own system on your own timeline.