Small and medium sized farming businesses will be able to apply for a share of £5m in grant funding for innovations that increase sustainable food production.
The Farming Innovation Investor Partnership competition is aimed at agricultural projects that have demonstrated the potential to grow and generate revenue, supporting the commercialisation of on-farm technologies that can then be rolled out across the industry.
As well as sustainable food production, the grant programme focuses on driving progress to net zero, improving farm resilience and support nature recovery.
The scheme is an extension of the £270m Farming Innovation Programme which has provided £100m for projects including autonomous livestock monitoring systems, robotic fruit harvesting systems, concentrated light weeding using AI, intelligent robotic cow cubicles and digital crop management for the early detection of glasshouse pests and diseases.
For the latest funding, businesses can bid for up to 45% of project costs in grants which must be matched by at least twice the amount in private investment. Projects must be led by a sole UK registered micro, small, or medium-sized business.
Applications are open but close soon at 10am on Wednesday 30 August 2023.
The scheme is funded by the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, run in partnership with UK Research & Innovation and delivered by Innovate UK. Full details about the Farming Innovation Investor Partnership competition are here.