Small and medium sized farming businesses can soon apply for a share of £5 million in grant funding to scale up innovation in the agriculture sector to increase sustainable food production, drive progress to net-zero, improve farm resilience and support nature recovery.
Opening later this month, the Farming Innovation Investor Partnership Competition will accelerate agricultural research and development by blending grant funding with private investment. It specifically seeks to support pioneering projects across the agricultural sector that have demonstrated the potential to grow and generate revenue, supporting the commercialisation of on-farm technologies that can then be rolled out across the industry.
It represents an extension of the £270m Farming Innovation Programme, which has already committed over £100m to support earlier stage R&D projects working on cutting-edge agricultural technologies. Examples of these projects include autonomous livestock monitoring systems, robotic fruit harvesting systems, concentrated light weeding using AI, intelligent robotic cow cubicles and digital crop management for the early detection of glasshouse pests and diseases.
Projects are encouraged to apply from across the livestock, arable, horticulture, bioeconomy and agroforestry sectors and should focus on solutions that support productivity, environmental sustainability, progression towards net zero emissions and farming resilience. Projects can bid for up to 45% of project costs in grant funding which must be matched by at least twice the amount in private investment. There is no limit to the level of private investment for projects, and previous schemes have shown the ability to attract significantly higher levels of investment.
Farming Minister Mark Spencer said: “Supporting a resilient, sustainable and innovative agriculture sector that puts food on our tables while safeguarding the environment is my priority, and we are working with farmers to deliver this through our new farming schemes and grants.
“By bringing together cutting-edge agri-innovation and public and private investment, we can unlock new technologies that help make our farm businesses as productive as possible.”
The competition – funded by Defra, run in partnership with UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) and delivered by Innovate UK – opens for applications on Monday 24 July. By supporting projects at the later-stage of innovation, the competition aims to drive increased commercialisation and adoption within the industry, and also aims to elevate the profile of the agri-tech sector by positioning it as a central focus for UK investors.
In order to apply, projects must be led by a sole UK registered micro, small, or medium-sized business and exhibit clear and tangible connections to farmers, growers, agri-businesses, and other potential end-users. Investors for the programme will be selected from the pool of Innovate UK Investor Partners which currently comprises 80 partners and growing.
Details for the new competition can be found on the Innovate UK website: Competition overview – Defra Farming Innovation Investor Partnership – Innovation Funding Service (apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk)