Productive and sustainable crop and ruminant agricultural systems

Key Features

UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £20 million to improve productivity and sustainability across UK crop and ruminant production systems.

Programme:     Innovate UK

Award:     Share of up to £20 million

Opens: 20th Aug 2018

Closes: 24th Oct 2018

! This scheme is now closed

Overview

UK Research and Innovation, through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, will invest up to £20 million in innovation projects. These must improve productivity and sustainability by developing enhanced decisions support, precision agriculture technology solutions and systems for crop and ruminant agriculture.

Scope

Your project must fall into one of the following themes:

  • driving productivity and improved environmental outcomes in crop and ruminant production systems
  • developing new, highly efficient, high-value production systems that maximise productivity and improve environmental performance.

It must focus on the development of enhanced decision support, precision agriculture technology solutions and systems. This includes:

  • combining digital technologies and engineering solutions with biological, environmental and/or social science to drive productivity
  • developing technologies and solutions that connect farms and supply chains
  • transferring technology from another sector into agriculture, providing this requires innovation

Projects must support the overall Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund’s ‘transforming food production’ goals. These are to:

  • boost the efficiency and productivity of UK agricultural systems
  • embed sustainable food production with improved environmental impacts, including enhancing biodiversity, soil and air quality, and reducing emissions, pollution and waste
  • create growth and increase exports of agricultural technologies

Further Requirements:

  • must have a clear route to market for technologies and solutions
  • must develop an optimised prototype that can be demonstrated by the end of the project

Eligibility

To be eligible for funding you must:

  • be a UK based business, academic organisation, charity, public sector organisation or research and technology organisation (RTO)
  • carry out your project work in the UK
  • exploit the results of your project anywhere in the world.

Collaborations must include at least one SME.

To lead a project you must:

  • be a UK based SME if your project costs are under £100,000
  • be a UK based business of any size if your project costs are over £100,000
  • involve at least one micro, small or medium-sized enterprise (SME)

Funding Costs

UK Research and Innovation has allocated up to £20 million to fund innovation projects in this competition. The aim is to allocate:

  • £10 million to productivity solutions
  • £10 million to supply chain solutions

In this competition they will fund industrial research projects. You can claim funding for your eligible project costs of:

  • up to 70% if you are a micro or small business
  • up to 60% if you are a medium-sized business
  • up to 50% if you are a large business

For productivity solutions total project costs can be up to £2 million. For supply chain solutions they can be up to £5 million. Projects must start by 1 April 2019, end by 31 March 2022 and can last up to 36 months.

Exclusions

Projects that cover the following, will not be funded:

  • monogastric livestock and aquaculture projects
  • forestry
  • non-food crops
  • wild capture fisheries
  • amenity or ornamental horticulture
  • equine