Defra Farming Innovation Investor Partnership

Summary

This Innovate UK and Defra-backed funding opportunity offers up to £5 million for late-stage agri-tech innovations that boost productivity, profitability, sustainability, and help the UK farming sector achieve net zero by 2050.

Open to UK-registered SMEs, the competition supports commercialisation-ready projects with clear benefits for farmers, growers or foresters in England. To receive funding, applicants must secure aligned investment from a lead investor in the approved pool, who may also offer strategic business support.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to:

• develop ambitious late stage innovative solutions, technologies, systems or approaches that will make significant steps towards improving productivity, profitability, increasing sustainability and resilience
• help the agriculture sector move towards achieving net zero emissions by 2050
• support commercialisation of late stage experimental development projects that are close to market and ultimately their adoption by farmers

Your project must:

• demonstrate your ambition to finalise a late stage innovation
• show your potential to grow and scale your business through successful negotiation of investment from a lead investor associated with the competition
• provide a coherent project plan which integrates into your business strategy

Your solutions must significantly improve farm focused:

• productivity
• sustainability and environmental impact
• progression towards net zero emissions
• resilience

Your project must be able to demonstrate how the project will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England.

Specific themes

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

• livestock
• plants
• novel food production systems
• bioeconomy and agroforestry

Project duration

Last 18 months

Not start before 1st April 2026

Award value

Must have a grant funding request of between £750,000 and £3 million

Funding rates

For experimental development projects, which use existing knowledge to shape and refine new or improved products, processes, or services—through prototyping, testing, and validation, not routine upgrades and are nearer to market, you can get funding for your eligible project costs of:

• up to 45% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 35% if you are a medium sized organisation

The aligned investment must be at least twice as much as the grant funding.

Eligibility criteria

• Projects must be collaborative and led by a UK registered business of any size, academic institution, research and technology (RTO), charity or public sector organisation
• Projects must involve at least one SME
• Projects must involve at least one local government authority
• Projects must involve at least one operator, end user or customer
• Collaborator scan 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 cost
• All funded project work must be carried out within the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
• Subsidy control and state aid rules apply