Full ADOPT Grant: Round 9

Key Features

Farming, growing or forestry businesses based in England can apply for a share of up to £5 million for on-farm trial and demonstration projects, to improve adoption of new ideas or solutions in the agricultural sector.

Programme:     Innovate UK

Award:     Share of up to £5 million

Opens: 14th Aug 2026

Closes: 7th Oct 2026

TBAT

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Grant Overview

Defra in partnership with Innovate UK will invest up to £5 million for on-farm trials and farm experiment projects.

Grant Scope

The aim of this competition is to support innovative on-farm trials or experiments to test ideas or solutions and demonstrate that they will address major on-farm or immediate post farmgate challenges or opportunities.

Projects must address a significant industry challenge or opportunity in one or more of the following specific themes:

  • agriculture
  • horticulture
  • agro-forestry

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible for this competition, businesses must collaborate with at least one other UK farmer, grower or forester that is claiming grant funding and have a Project Facilitator as part of the project team who is listed in the ADOPT Innovate UK Business Connect database. Projects must have a total cost of between £50,000 and £200,000, last between 6 and 24 months and start by 1st February 2027 and end by 31st January 2029.

Lead organisation: To lead a collaborative project you must be and active farming, growing or forestry business of any size based in England. Be able to evidence that you are an established commercial business, including sold traders and partnerships. Businesses must have an eligible UK bank account and collaborate with at least one other farming, growing or forestry business of any size based in the UK.

Project team: To collaborate with the lead, you must be an active commercial farmer, grower or forester based in the UK. Businesses can also collaborate with the lead applicant if you are a UK registered business of any size, academic institution, charity, not for profit, public sector organisation, research organisation or research and technology organisation.

Subcontractors: Subcontractors are allowed in this competition and can be from anywhere in the UK. Overseas contractors can be used, but you must state why UK subcontractors could not be used in your application.

Number of applications: An eligible organisation can only lead on one application. An eligible organisation that is leading an application can be included as a collaborator in two further applications. If not leading, they can collaborate in any number of applications.

Non-funded partners: Projects can include organisations that do not claim any funding for their work on a project, these costs must be covered from their own resources and can include UK, EU and other non-UK organisations. Non-UK partners are permitted to carry out project work from within their home countries and exploit the results outside the UK.

Previous applications: Previously submitted applications can be used in this competition.

Grant Exclusions

Innovate UK are not funding the following projects:

  • Projects that do not benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England
  • Projects that are based on funded crop variety plot trials or existing demonstration trials or projects
  • Projects that are for the production of crops or plants for medicinal or pharmaceutical use
  • Projects for cultivated meat or based on equine systems
  • Projects that involve wild caught fisheries or aquaculture
  • Projects that involve fermentation systems for bacteria, yeast or fungi for human consumption

Grant Funding

Defra alongside Innovate UK has allocated up to £5 million to fund on-farm trial projects in this competition. Funding will be in the form of a grant.

A minimum of 50% of the total grant amount requested by farmers, growers and foresters must be allocated to farmers, growers or foresters based in England.

If your organisation’s work on the project is commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below. These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically but for the purpose of this project will be undertaking commercial or economic activity.

The balance between your total eligible project costs and the amount of grant awarded must be funded by the organisation receiving the grant.

For industrial research projects, you can get funding for your eligible project costs of:

  • up to 80% if you are an active farming, growing or forestry business based in England, Wales or Scotland
  • up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation, including active farming, growing or forestry businesses based in Northern Ireland
  • up to 60% if you are a medium sized organisation
  • up to 50% if you are a large organisation

Research participation

The research organisations undertaking non-economic activity as part of the project can share up to 60% of the total eligible project costs. If your consortium contains more than one research organisation undertaking non-economic activity, this maximum is shared between them. Of that 60% you can get funding for your eligible project costs of up to:

  • 100% of your eligible project costs if you are an RTO, charity, not for profit organisation, public sector organisation or research organisation
  • 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you are an academic institution

Eligibility criteria for claiming 80% of FEC funding

  1. Research organisations must use the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) method as the Je-S form has now been decommissioned.
  2. We pay 100% of the 80% Full Economic Cost (FEC). On IFS only enter the 80% being claimed.

For further information on this competition, please see full details.

Full competition details