Farming Innovation Programme: Small R&D Partnership Projects Rd 4
The aim of this competition is to:
- develop solutions with the potential to improve overall productivity, sustainability, resilience and move existing agricultural sectors to net zero
- ensure solutions have positive outputs for farmers, growers or foresters in commercially relevant situations
- develop new agricultural solutions by collaboration through engagement with end users and the UK research community in the innovation process
- accelerate adoption by ensuring knowledge exchange with the wider sector and other stakeholders
Your proposal must be able to demonstrate how the project will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England.
Applications for this competition must be collaborative. If you would like to find a collaboration partner, an online Q&A and consortia building event will be held on Thursday 18 September between 9am and 11am: click here to register for a place.
This competition has a two stage assessment. If your project is assessed as eligible, you may be invited to present at interview. The selection of successful projects will be decided after interviews.
In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition has a funding limit, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed projects. It may be the case that your project scores highly but we are still unable to fund it.
Our experience from similar competitions suggests that you could have 15% chance of success.
Further information
Your project must:
- have total costs between £1 million and £3 million
- last up to 30 months
- be collaborative
- carry out all of its project work in the UK
- intend to exploit the results from or in England
- start by 1 July 2026
- end by 31 Dec 2028
Your solutions must significantly improve:
- productivity
- sustainability and the environmental impact of farming
- progression towards net zero emissions
- resilience
Businesses within a supply chain, are encouraged to come together as a partnership to solve major challenges or opportunities.
Your project must be able to demonstrate how the project will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England.
Your project must address a significant industry challenge or opportunity in at least one of the industry subsectors below:
- farmed animals
- plants
- novel food production systems
- bioeconomy and agroforestry
Projects will not be funded that:
- do not benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England
- are equine specific
- involve wild caught fisheries
- involve aquaculture for fish production or human consumption
- involve cellular or acellular production systems, fermentation systems for bacteria, yeast or fungi for human consumption
- are for the production of crops or plants for medicinal or pharmaceutical use.
For more information on this competition, please visit Innovate UK and GOV.UK.