Full ADOPT Grant: Round 7

Overview

The Full ADOPT Grant: Round 7 sits within Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme and is delivered by Innovate UK. It focuses on farmer-led, on-farm trials and experiments that test practical solutions to real agricultural challenges.

Projects must show clear potential to significantly improve one or more of:

• agricultural productivity
• business resilience
• environmental sustainability and progress towards net zero farming

Funded projects are expected to share their results with other farmers, growers and foresters, helping to encourage wider adoption of innovative practices across England.

Kene are approved ADOPT Project Facilitators for ADOPT grants.

Scope

This competition focuses on practical, on-farm trials and experiments rather than early-stage research. Projects must:

• Test ideas or solutions that are new or not yet widely adopted in the sector.
• Address major on-farm or immediate post-farmgate challenges or opportunities.
• Demonstrate benefits and relevance to farmers, growers or foresters in England.

Embrace open innovation, sharing learning and results to support wider adoption.

Eligible sectors include agriculture, horticulture and agro-forestry. Projects must be carried out in the UK, with the intention to exploit the results from or in England.

Projects will not be funded if they:

Do not benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England.

Are based solely on existing crop variety plot trials or demonstration projects.

Focus on crops or plants for medicinal or pharmaceutical use, cultivated meat, equine systems, wild-caught fisheries, aquaculture for human consumption (including algae and seaweed), or fermentation systems for human food (bacteria, yeast or fungi).

Are dependent on export performance or domestic input usage as a condition of support.

Innovate UK will fund a portfolio of projects across different technologies, farming systems, regions and themes to ensure a balanced spread of innovation activity.

Key themes and topics

Projects must tackle significant industry challenges or opportunities in at least one of the following sectors:

- Agriculture

- Horticulture

- Agro-forestry

Within these sectors, proposals should clearly show how the trial or experiment will:

Improve productivity, such as yield, efficiency or resource use.

Strengthen resilience, including business robustness, risk management or adaptation to shocks.

Enhance sustainability and support progress towards net zero emissions, for example through reduced inputs, emissions reduction, soil health or biodiversity gains.

Projects should also contribute to wider ADOPT Fund objectives by:

Supporting farmer-led on-farm R&D and robust practical trials.

Generating and sharing evidence that other farmers can trust and apply.

Creating peer-to-peer learning and knowledge exchange opportunities, including events or other communication activities.

Building farmers’ skills and confidence in innovation and on-farm research.

Project duration

6 to 24 months

Must start on 1 November 2026

End by 31 October 2028

Award value

Grant funding request between £50,000 and £100,000

Funding rates

This competition funds industrial research projects.

For industrial research projects, purposeful research that builds new knowledge and skills to improve or develop products, processes, or services, 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

Additional support applies for farming, growing and forestry businesses, with higher intervention rates available depending on location and activity.

Research organisations can share up to 60% of the total eligible project costs.

Eligibility criteria

• Projects must be collaborative and farmer-led
• Projects must include at least one other UK farming, growing or forestry business
• Projects must include an ADOPT Project Facilitator as part of the team, selected from the ADOPT Innovate UK Business Connect database (Kene are approved facilitators)
• 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
• Projects must intend to exploit the results from or in England
• Subsidy control and state aid rules apply