Latest opportunities
NFU Conference announcements
Following NFU Conference, a number of announcements were made which may be of interest to those considering engaging with these competitions. Part of a £110m funding commitment also included the launch of a further round in 2025 of the FETF (Farming Equipment and Technology Fund).
The first announcement relates to the ADOPT programme (which forms part of the Farming Innovation Programme), previously outlined at the 2025 Oxford Farming Conference by the Secretary of State.
ADOPT will allow farmers to engage with on the ground trials of innovative technology on farm. It will have an allocated budget of £20 million. The ADOPT programme will “fund farmer-led trials to bridge the gap between new technologies and their real-world application”.
There will be a number of additional competitions available for farmers to engage with in 2025 with a combined value of £42.5 million to contribute to various themes.
This includes confirmation on previously uncertain competitions such as ‘Farming Future: net zero farming’. Another competition hopes to capitalise on the Precision Breeding Bill which has been laid before Parliament, stimulating research into the new opportunities it is hoped it will unlock.
These announcements confirm the continuation of several important research competitions which were left in an uncertain position following the change in government and the Budget announced in 2024.
ADOPT: Accelerating Development of Practices and Technologies
ADOPT aims to support farmer-led trials that focus on collaboration to generate innovative solutions for farming challenges.
This will be achieved through trials or experiments to generate, test and, ultimately, demonstrate the capability of these solutions in a practical context.
The outcome of these projects will include providing knowledge of new practices which can be shared to the wider sector to encourage adoption more widely.
ADOPT works through two different grants, depending on the applicants’ individual needs.
The first is a small support grant, which would allow an applicant to access professional assistance from an industry expert to support them in developing an application for a full grant.
These grants are designed to support those less familiar with Innovate UK and the process for submitting an application. This is an optional grant, and is not compulsory for those wanting to submit a full ADOPT application.
The second is the full ADOPT grant. This will support the on-farm trials or experiments. More details on what this will cover are expected soon.
Applicant support
There is a lot of support available for those wishing to engage with the ADOPT offer, including signposting to connect applicants to experts who are able to provide guidance on submitting applications for both the support grant and the full ADOPT grant.
Innovate UK Business Connect can also support with providing names of individuals who can help with turning an idea into a potential funding opportunity that is ready for a full grant application.
For those who are less experienced in dealing with the support and full grant applications, there it further support to help when dealing with Innovate UK platforms and systems.
If you want to contact Innovate UK for further support, you can email: [email protected]. Innovate UK will be able to provide a list of registered facilitators.
More information on this support, including additional information on the ADOPT support hub, run by RSK ADAS can be found online at: farmpep.net | ADOPT support.
Further details will be published soon, including the application process for the ADOPT scheme. This will be published on: UKRI.ORG | ADOPT.
About the Farming Innovation Programme
Back in October 2021 Defra launched the first of a series of funding competitions to invest in R&D for the farming industry under the Farming Innovation Programme banner. Further competitions have become available throughout this year.
The aim of the programme is to help farmers, growers and foresters increase their sustainability and resilience through harnessing science to develop practical solutions for the industry.
The NFU has argued for increased funding in this area for many years and it is vital that investment leads to all farmers and growers being supported to get involved at some level with R&D.
It is essential robust evidence is accessible to everyone to improve decision-making and provide feedback on what works on farm.
In September 2023, the government announced that 19 innovative projects developing automation and robotic technologies will receive a share of £12.5 million in government funding to boost productivity, food security and sustainable farming practices.
The funding comes through the Farming Futures Automation and Robotics competition, which is delivered by Innovate UK.
In February 2024, Defra announced that 24 innovative projects will received a share of over £12.2 million under the ‘On farm Environmental Resilience’ competition. The winners are using technology to tackle a range of long-term challenges to plants, crops and farmed animals including preventing potato blight, improving the wellbeing of farmed chickens, growing climate resistant hops and maximising grape yields in British vineyards.
The NFU has also joined a consortium of over 20 industry and research partners to form CHCx3 (The Centre for High Carbon Capture Cropping), a four-year, £5.9 million project led by crop science organisation NIAB (National Institute of Agricultural Botany).
Find out more at: NFU joins research partners to help UK farmers increase carbon capture.
Past competitions
In October 2021, the first three competitions under industry-led R&D Partnerships Fund were launched with total funding of £17.5m.
A further funding opportunity for large R&D partnership projects opened in March 2022, with £8m of funding on offer for large collaborative business-led projects. Round 3 of the small R&D partnerships fund opened during August 2023 and offered a share of up to £9.8 million.
You can read more about the successful applications from the first round of the Small R&D partnership projects funding at: UKRI | £11m funding announced to further support food sector innovation.
Other funding opportunities under the large R&D, research starter and robotics and automation competitions were available in 2023, with a total value of over £20million of funding.
UK registered micro, SMEs (Small or Medium-sized Enterprises) were able to apply for a share of up to £5 million to develop innovative farming solutions under the Farming Innovation Investor Partnership. The aim of this competition was to support late-stage experimental development projects being close to market and ultimately adoption by farmers.
UKRI have also announced a further fifty successful projects across four FIP competitions, which you can read about at: UKRI | 50 winning projects showcase the latest farming innovations.
A third round of funding under the feasibility studies fund also closed for applications on 15 November 2023. There was a £4.5 million funding pool available, which was from the Industry-led R&D Partnerships Fund.
In early 2024, two competitions closed. The first of these was round four of the research starter competition. Funding was available for between £28,000 to £56,000 to develop an idea to address a known industry problem. This competition has £850,000 of allocated funding available.
There was also the third round of the Research and Development Competition – this competition launched in January and closed in March 2024. This was a larger opportunity, with funding available for up to four years to fund projects.
Funding was between £3 million to £5 million. It aimed to develop new products or services which would be of use to farmers in England.
The Farming Futures Research and Development Nutrient Management Phase 1 competition closed in the summer of 2024. Its aim was to focus on large-scale research projects, often in the early development stages, which would otherwise be unsuitable to other research and development opportunities.
The split was between feasibility studies and industry research. Feasibility studies focused on projects of up to £500,000 and were open to a number of applicants, while the industry research strand covered projects between £500,000 and £1 million. However, the applicant list was limited purely to businesses.
We want to hear from you
We would like to hear from any of our members who looked at these opportunities about their experiences, good or bad. Whether you applied, or even just considered applying, this feedback will help with future NFU discussions with Defra and UKRI. We hope this can lead to improvements in the programme and application process.
If you have feedback please email us on [email protected].
Further information
If you are interested in the Farming Innovation Programme please visit: UKRI | Farming Innovation: find out about funding.
You can also read Defra’s blogs at: GOV.UK | Future Farming