UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £12.5 million for Industrial Research Projects from the Farming Futures R&D Fund, a part of the Farming Innovation Programme.
The competition opened for entries on Monday 5th May 2025 with a deadline for applications of 11am on Wednesday 25th June 2025.
The funding is part of the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs’ (Defra) Farming Innovation Programme which is delivered in partnership with Innovate UK.
Defra and UK Research Innovation (UKRI) will work in collaboration to deliver a portfolio of projects that meet the objectives of the Farming Innovation Programme.
The aim of this competition is to fund collaborative projects that will develop new solutions to support UK farming working towards achieving low emissions. These must address major on-farm or immediate post farmgate challenges or opportunities.
Projects in this competition must:
o Develop ambitious solutions that will reduce emissions in existing farming practices.
o Carry out a life cycle assessment (LCA) for the solution developed.
o Demonstrate impact and measure of carbon as a number to facilitate foot printing and potential trading, but other emissions must not be ignored.
o Demonstrate and measure wider environmental benefits, as contributors to low emission farming.
o Encourage dissemination and knowledge exchange to the wider sector and increase the maturity or market readiness of emerging solutions, and
o Ensure concepts are closely aligned with industry priorities to deliver business orientated, transformative opportunities.
Projects must evidence how the solution will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England.
Any successful projects may have a Defra appointed third party, carry out an independent LCA on the solution towards the end of the project.
This competition has a two stage assessment. If your project is assessed as eligible, you may be invited to present at interview. The selection of successful projects will be decided after interviews.
Further information, including eligibility, scope of the programme and how to apply, can be found on the GOV.UK website.
