Farming Futures R&D Fund: low emissions farming

To lead a project your organisation must:

• be a UK registered business of any size, an academic institution or a research and technology organisation (RTO)
• collaborate with other UK registered organisations
• involve at least one grant claiming business of any size

If the lead organisation is an academic institution or an RTO, it must collaborate with two businesses of any size.

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

Project team

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

A business, academic institution or research and technology organisation (RTO) can only lead on one application but can be included as a collaborator in two further applications.

If an organisation is not leading any application, it can collaborate in any number of applications.

Your project must:

• have total costs between £1 million and £2.5 million
• last between 30 and 36 months
• start by 1 January 2026
• end by 31 December 2028
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in England

If your application passes the interview selection, any awards given to primary agricultural producers are subject to the green box exemption under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture.

You can 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.

The aim of this competition is to fund collaborative projects that will develop new solutions to support UK farming working towards achieving low emissions. These must address major on-farm or immediate post farmgate challenges or opportunities.

Your project must:

• develop ambitious solutions that will reduce emissions in existing farming practices
• carry out a life cycle assessment (LCA) for the solution developed
• demonstrate impact and measure of carbon as a number to facilitate foot printing and potential trading, but other emissions must not be ignored
• demonstrate and measure wider environmental benefits, as contributors to low emission farming
• encourage dissemination and knowledge exchange to the wider sector and increase the maturity or market readiness of emerging solutions
• ensure concepts are closely aligned with industry priorities to deliver business orientated, transformative opportunities

Your project must also demonstrate how the solution will significantly improve on-farm:

• productivity
• resilience
• sustainability and progression towards low emission farming​

Projects must evidence how the solution will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England.

Your project must address at least one of the following five key areas:

Regenerative farming: for example, integration of regenerative techniques into productive systems for improved soil health, water quality and biodiversity.

Energy: for example, increasing efficiency in controlled environment agriculture, improved materials for glasshouses, or energy efficient machinery.

Methanisation: (or biomethanisation) is a process based on the natural fermentation of organic matter to produce biogas. Methanisation provides a use for organic waste, producing renewable energy and organic fertiliser. The biogas obtained from methanisation can be used directly to produce heat and electricity and consideration must be provided for the handling of any CH4 and CO2 bi-products, with a focus on on-farm utilisation.

Reducing GHG emission in livestock production: for example, methane inhibiting feed additives, novel housing systems or enhanced breeding.

Innovations to support land management: including productive paludicultural systems; agroforestry, energy crops and biomass production, deployment of biochar for carbon sequestration through application to land.

We are not funding projects that:

• are not addressing low emission farming priorities as listed in the scope section
• are not measuring the GHG emissions impact from their innovation
• are equine specific
• involve wild caught fisheries
• involve aquaculture for fish production or human consumption
• are for the production of crops or plants for medicinal or pharmaceutical use
• do not benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England

An online consortium building event will be held on Thursday 8 May at 10am: click here to register for a place.

A recorded applicant briefing will also be available on the IFS site.

If you want help to find a project partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Agrifood team.