Farming Innovation Programme: Small R&D Partnership Projects Round 5

Overview

Defra will invest up to £13 million in collaborative R&D projects that address significant challenges and opportunities across farming, growing and forestry.

Part of the Farming Innovation Programme and delivered in partnership with Innovate UK, this competition is focused on developing agricultural solutions that can improve productivity, sustainability and resilience while supporting progress towards net zero.

Projects need to bring businesses and the research community together, involve end users in the innovation process and demonstrate clear benefits for farmers, growers or foresters in England.

The competition has a two-stage assessment process, with eligible applicants potentially invited to an interview before final funding decisions are made.

Scope

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

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.

Projects must be able to demonstrate how they will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England.

Key themes and topics

Projects must address a significant industry challenge or opportunity in at least one of the following industry subsectors:

• farmed animals
• plants
• novel food production systems
• bioeconomy and agroforestry

The competition will fund industrial research projects.

Projects will not be funded if they:

• 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, or fermentation systems for bacteria, yeast or fungi for human consumption
• are for the production of crops or plants for medicinal or pharmaceutical use
• are dependent on export performance
• are dependent on domestic inputs usage

Project duration

Up to to 30 months

Must start on 1 April 2027

End by 31 March 2030

Award value

Grant funding request between £700,000 and £2.1 million

Total eligible project costs must be between £1 million and £3 million.

Funding rates

For industrial research projects, purposeful research that builds new knowledge and skills to improve or develop products, processes, or services, often through prototypes or system components that validate ideas in realistic settings, you can get funding for your eligible project costs of:

• up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 60% if you are a medium sized organisation
• up to 50% if you are a large organisation

Research organisations can share up to 30% of the total eligible project costs.

Eligibility criteria

• Projects must be collaborative and led by a UK registered business of any size
• Projects must include at least one grant claiming SME
• Collaborators can be a UK registered business of any size; an academic institution; a charity; a not for profit; a public sector organisation; or a research and technology organisation (RTO)
• Subcontractors must be preferably UK-based with fully justified and appropriate costs
• All funded project work must be carried out within the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in England
• Subsidy control and state aid rules apply

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