Farming Innovation Programme: Research Starter round 4 - EoI

The lead applicant must be a farmer, grower or forester running a commercial agricultural or forestry business. Examples of organisations that would not be eligible as the lead applicant include research and technical organisations, manufacturers and suppliers of products, equipment or services, trade and membership organisations, not for profit organisations.

To lead a full stage project your organisation must:

• be an active farming, growing or forestry business of any size based in England
• be able to evidence that you are an established commercial business, including sole traders and partnerships
• have a UK bank account
• not have been awarded Innovate UK funding as a project lead within the last 5 years before 14 February 2024

A farming, growing or forestry business can only lead on one EoI application.

To collaborate with the lead in the full stage competition, an organisation must be a farmer, grower or forester based in the UK or be a UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

The aim of this funding is to enable a commercial farming, growing or forestry businesses to investigate their own idea. It is not intended to fund the development or testing of an existing product or idea by an external company on a farm or forestry application.

If your application is successful at this expression of interest (EoI) stage, you will be invited to apply for a full stage competition. In the full stage competition you must collaborate with other eligible partners.

Your full stage project must:

• have total costs between £28,000 and £56,000
• start by 1 October 2024
• end by 31 March 2026
• last between 6 and 18 months
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in England

If you are invited to the full stage competition, any awards given to primary agricultural producers are subject to the green box exemption under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture. Please see further guidance on green box subsidies here: WTO Guidance for support in Agriculture.

The aim of this competition is to:

• investigate early-stage solutions with the potential to substantially improve overall productivity, sustainability, resilience and move existing agricultural sectors to net zero
• prioritise solutions that have positive outputs for farmers, growers or foresters in commercially relevant situations
• accelerate development of effective new agricultural solutions by working with end-users and collaborating with the wider UK research community in the innovation process

This competition provides an entry point​ for farmers, growers or foresters that have bold, ambitious, early-stage ideas to solve major problems that impact their business. This can help you exploit new significant opportunities for both your business and the industry sub-sector.​

The outputs of this expression of interest (EoI) competition will provide you with the knowledge and information needed to aid you in applying for grant funding for the development of your idea.

Your proposed feasibility study must investigate new solutions to industry identified challenges, or opportunities for farmers, growers or foresters that have the potential to significantly improve:

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

Your project must focus on developing on-farm or immediate post farmgate​ solutions.

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

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

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

Innovate UK KTN held an online briefing on Tuesday 12 December: click here to view the recording and slides.

If you want help to find potential partners that could collaborate with you in your full stage project, contact the Innovate UK KTN Agri-Food Team.