To lead a project your organisation must:

• be a UK registered micro, small or medium sized enterprise (SME)
• be prepared to negotiate heads of terms for an aligned private investment
• be seeking private financing of at least twice the amount of the grant requested

An SME can only lead on one application.

Subcontractors are allowed: they can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process. You can use subcontractors from overseas, but must make the case in your application as to why you cannot use subcontractors from the UK.

Your project must:

• have total costs of between £750,000 and £3 million
• last 18 months
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK
• not start before 1 April 2027
• be able to demonstrate how it will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England

Any organisation receiving funding must carry out its project work in the UK, intend to exploit the results in the UK, and spend most of the funding within the UK.

Your project must have total costs of between £750,000 and £3 million. This competition is for experimental development projects which are nearer to market, so you can get funding for your eligible project costs of up to 45% if you are a micro or small organisation, and up to 35% if you are a medium sized organisation.

You must agree the private investment through a lead investor and reach heads of terms by 2 December 2026.

The aligned private investment:

• must provide you with suitable capital at least twice the amount of the grant requested to complete your project, support company growth and scale ambitions
• can be directed for use in your company, whereas the grant is to support the project only
• can be used to fund additional costs typically ineligible for support by Innovate UK
• must be provided under commercial terms negotiated with the lead investor and not Innovate UK

The investment can be in the form of either direct equity investment or a convertible loan. It must come from a lead investor from the pool of investors associated with this programme. The lead investor may decide to syndicate with other investors from within or outside of the pool.

The aim of this competition is to:

• develop ambitious late stage innovative solutions, technologies, systems or approaches that will make significant steps towards improving productivity, profitability, increasing sustainability and resilience
• help the agriculture sector move towards achieving net zero emissions by 2050
• support commercialisation of late stage experimental development projects that are close to market and ultimately their adoption by farmers

Your project must:

• demonstrate your ambition to finalise a late stage innovation
• show your potential to grow and scale your business through successful negotiation of investment from a lead investor associated with the competition
• provide a coherent project plan which integrates into your business strategy

Your solutions must significantly improve farm focused:

• productivity
• sustainability and environmental impact
• progression towards net zero emissions
• resilience

Your project must be able to demonstrate how the project will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England.

Your project must address a significant industry challenge or opportunity in at least one of the industry subsectors below:

• livestock
• plants
• novel food production systems
• bioeconomy and agroforestry

We are not funding projects that:

• are not carried out by single micro, small or medium sized enterprises (SMEs)
• are collaborative research and development (R&D) projects
• are not part of a company’s growth plan
• are unable to prove there is potential for return on investment and growth
• are equine specific
• involve wild caught fisheries
• involve aquaculture for fish production or human consumption​
• involve cellular expression of proteins or cultivated meat​
• involve cellular or acellular production systems, fermentation systems for bacteria, yeast or fungi for human consumption
• are for the production of crops or plants for medicinal or pharmaceutical use​
• do not benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England

Innovate UK will hold an online briefing at 12 noon on Monday 18 May: click here for the joining link (Zoom required). A recording and slides will be available afterwards.

If you would like help to find an investor or have questions about the wider programme, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Agrifood team.