In August DEFRA published details of new rounds of funding under both the Small R&D Partnerships, round three Small Research and Development (R&D) Partnerships and linked Feasibility Studies.

The competitions will award over £14 million of funding to encourage collaboration between farmers, growers and foresters with agri-businesses and researchers. 

The grants will fund collaborative projects to drive the development of new technology and ways of farming, with a focus on practical solutions that make a real impact on farms.

Defra has already funded projects that will explore how automation could improve soft fruit yields, and how the waste products from the cherry juicing process can create new foods rich in healthy compounds, as well as reducing agricultural waste. 

These calls are part of the £270 million Farming Innovation Programme run by DEFRA and UKRI.

The two strands are:

  • Farming Innovation Programme Small R&D Partnership Projects Round 3 - UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £9.8 million for Small R&D Partnership Projects from the Industry-led R&D Partnerships Fund, a part of the Farming Innovation Programme. 

The competition closes on Wednesday 25th October 2023 at 11:00am.

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.

Your project’s total costs must be between £1 million and £3 million.

  • Farming Innovation Programme feasibility round 3 - UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £4.5 million for feasibility projects.

The competition closes on Wednesday 15th November 2023 at 11:00am.

The aim of this funding competition is to fund feasibility studies investigating new solutions that will address major on-farm or immediate post farmgate challenges or opportunities.  This will include projects that:

  • Investigate early-stage solutions that have the potential to substantially improve the overall productivity, sustainability and resilience of farming, and move existing agricultural sectors to net zero
  • Prioritise solutions that will have positive outputs for farmers, growers and foresters in commercially relevant situations
  • Accelerate research and development of new agricultural solutions by actively engaging collaboration with the wider UK research community in the innovation process

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

Your project’s total costs must be between £200,000 and £500,000.