ADOPT Facilitator Support Grant: Round 2

Key Features

Farming, growing or forestry businesses based in England can apply for a grant of £2,500, to engage an external Project Facilitator to support the development of a Full ADOPT Grant application.

Programme:     Innovate UK

Award:     Share of up to £100,000

Opens: 12th Jun 2025

Closes: 24th Jul 2025

Overview

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will invest up to £100,000 to support the development of applications for on-farm trials and farm experiment projects.

This funding is part of Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme, delivered in partnership with Innovate UK.

This competition is designed for farmers, growers and foresters based in England who are keen to test and trial new ideas or solutions on-farm and require support to develop a Full ADOPT Grant application.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to:

  • provide a £2,500 grant for a farmer, grower or forester based in England to engage an external Project Facilitator to support with submissions into the Full ADOPT Grant competitions
  • improve the quality of Full ADOPT Grant applications
  • make ADOPT funding accessible to a wider range of applicants
  • enhance the skills and expertise of the farming eco-system to engage with innovation funding

The project you intend to develop and submit as a Full ADOPT Grant application must be for an on-farm trial or experiment to test new ideas and solutions. This is to demonstrate to you and other farmers, growers or foresters if it works in real on-farm conditions.

Your project will need to address major on-farm or immediate post farmgate challenges or opportunities and it must have the potential to significantly improve one or more of the following:

  • productivity
  • resilience
  • sustainability and progression towards net zero farming

Your proposal must demonstrate to other farmers, growers or foresters in England how the idea or solution will be of benefit to them.

Your project must focus on testing and trialling ideas or solutions that are either new or not yet widely used.

Portfolio approach

Innovate UK want to fund a variety of projects across different technologies, markets, themes, practices and processes, farming sectors, and regions. Innovate UK call this a portfolio approach.

Specific Themes

Your project must address a significant industry challenge or opportunity in at least one or more of the following sectors:

  • agriculture
  • horticulture
  • agro-forestry

Eligibility

If you are successful in the Full ADOPT Grants, 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.

Applicants receiving this type of support must ensure that there is minimal to no distortion of trade and comply with the requirements of Annex 2 of the Agriculture Agreement.

To be eligible to apply for this competition, you must:

  • engage with an external Project Facilitator that is registered in the Innovate UK Business Connect database
  • work with the facilitator to develop and submit an eligible application for a Full ADOPT Grant competition

If you are successful in this competition you will need to:

  • provide evidence that your Full ADOPT Grant application has been sent for assessment.
  • submit a claim within six months of receiving your Grant Offer letter

A total of £2,500 will be awarded per successful participant once the claim and evidence is submitted.

Project Facilitator

The Project Facilitator is the person who will be working with you to submit a Full ADOPT Grant application. They must be registered in the Innovate UK Business Connect database.

You must only include in the ‘other costs’ line of the finance section the name of the Project Facilitator you will be working with and the maximum grant amount of £2,500.

Lead organisation

To lead a 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

More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our Funding rules.

Subcontractors

Subcontractors are not allowed in this competition.

Number of applications

A farmer, grower or forester can only lead on one application per competition round and receive a maximum of two Facilitator Support Grants in total.

Sanctions

This competition will not fund you, or provide any financial benefit to any individual or entities directly or indirectly involved with you, which would expose Innovate UK or any direct or indirect beneficiary of funding from Innovate UK to UK Sanctions. For example, through any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any entity as lead, partner or subcontractor related to these countries, administrations and terrorist groups.

Use of animals in research and innovation

Innovate UK expects and supports the provision and safeguarding of welfare standards for animals used in research and innovation, according to best practice and up to date guidance.

Applicants must ensure that all of the proposed work within projects, both that in the UK and internationally, will comply with the UKRI guidance on the use of animals in research and innovation.

Any projects selected for funding which involve animals will be asked to provide additional information on welfare and ethical considerations, as well as compliance with any relevant legislation as part of the project start-up process. This information will be reviewed before an award is made.

You can use a previously submitted application to apply for this competition.

Exclusions

Innovate UK are not funding projects that:

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

Innovate UK cannot fund projects that are:

  • dependent on export performance, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of bread to another country
  • dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it uses 50% UK flour in their product

Funding Costs

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) has allocated up to £100,000, to provide support through the ADOPT Facilitator Support Grants. Funding will be in the form of a grant of £2,500 per successful applicant.

You can get 100% funding for your eligible project costs if you are an active farmer, grower or forester based in England.

Interested in applying for this competition?

Book an appointment to speak to one of our advisors to discuss your eligibility to apply for this Grant Funding opportunity.