Promar

Promar, which delivers the Farm Business Survey on behalf of DEFRA, needed to move from static reporting of the information to an interactive platform that would allow users to explore complex datasets more easily.

The survey collects detailed financial and technical data from farms across England, generating nationally significant statistical outputs. MindWorks’ digital marketing team were tasked with developing a bespoke data dashboard to make the agricultural data accessible and actionable.

We designed and built a bespoke Shiny-based application, enabling users to filter, compare and analyse the Farm Business Survey datasets. The project involved restructuring and preparing raw data for app consumption, building a reactive architecture in R Shiny and developing multi-year comparison logic to support meaningful analysis.

Input validation and edge-case handling were implemented to protect statistical rigour, while SQLite optimisation ensured performance across large datasets. The interface now enables users to select year ranges, compare farm types and interrogate structured financial outputs dynamically. Deployment to a production server environment was handled end-to-end, with ongoing debugging and refinement to maintain stability and accuracy.

Making complex data accessible

The dashboard significantly improved accessibility and usability. Users can now interrogate datasets directly rather than relying solely on static tables and PDF reports. Transparency and practical value has also improved for researchers, industry professionals and policy stakeholders.

The project demonstrates MindWorks’ capability to go beyond traditional web design and development to complex technical application development and statistical data visualisation, while maintaining clarity and performance in a public-facing interface.