To lead a collaborative project your organisation must be a UK registered business of any size.

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

You must be able to evidence that you are an established commercial business, including sole traders and partnerships.

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)

No single organisation can claim more than 70% of the total project costs.

An eligible organisation can only lead on one application. Any further applications by the same organisation as lead will be made ineligible.

An eligible organisation that is leading an application can be included as a collaborator in a further two applications and if not leading, can collaborate in any number of applications.

Your project must:

• have total costs between £1 million and £5 million
• last up to 36 months
• start by 1 August 2027
• end by 31 July 2030
• show how the solution 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 from or in the UK, and spend most of the funding within the UK.

No single organisation can claim more than 70% of the total project costs.

The aim of this competition is to fund collaborative development projects that deliver ambitious, commercially deployable solutions to the challenges associated with soil, water and environmental management in farming and growing production systems.

Through Defra’s investment, this competition will accelerate the development of technologies, practices and services that enhance farm productivity, strengthen environmental sustainability, and improve the resilience of agriculture in England.

Projects that address multiple scope areas and adopt a systems based approach are particularly encouraged, recognising the interconnected nature of soil health, water quality and wider environmental management. By supporting integrated, whole farm solutions, this competition seeks to maximise both environmental and economic benefits, delivering greater impact across the farming sector.

Improved understanding of soil and water systems, enabled by enhanced environmental monitoring, reporting and verification, can help farmers and land managers make more informed management decisions. It can also provide robust evidence of environmental outcomes, supporting participation in emerging nature markets and creating new opportunities to generate value from sustainable land management practices.

Projects should align with the following Defra targets and commitments:

• The Farming Roadmap 2050 to ensure that healthy soils, clean water and functioning ecosystems are the foundations of food production
• The Environment Act Statutory Target to reduce nitrogen, phosphate and sediment pollution by 40% by 2038 Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) 2025 – GOV.UK. This appears under Goal 3: Water, where the document lists the statutory Environment Act water targets
• reduce ammonia by 16% by 2030 as part of EIP’s commitment 19. The source is the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025 (EIP25), specifically Goal 2: Air, Commitment 19 Environmental Improvement Plan (EIP) 2025 – GOV.UK
• the 2019 amendment to the Climate Change Act 2008 legally committed the UK to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 across sectors, including farming The Climate Change Act 2008 (2050 Target Amendment) Order 2019

Your project must focus on innovative solutions with strong potential for commercial deployment and adoption.

Your project can focus on one or more of the following scope areas:

1. Soil, Water and Land Resource Management

• technologies or approaches to improve soil organic matter, nutrient cycling, carbon flux, biological activity and soil biodiversity
• solutions to improve soil structure, reduce compaction, erosion, and degradation
• integrated approaches to improve water retention in soils
• innovations that enhance infiltration and reduce surface runoff
• solutions that improve soil health, hydrology, interactions between soil, water, biodiversity and agricultural management practices
• precision irrigation systems and scheduling tools
• innovations to optimise water availability for plants and livestock under changing climatic conditions
• innovations that support integrated catchment scale approaches to tackling sediment pollution, improving water quality, and enhancing the resilience of natural and managed water environments

2. Fertilisers, Nutrient Management, Circular Bioeconomy and Pollution Reduction

• development of green and novel fertilisers
• solutions to reduce nutrient leaching into watercourses
• solutions for managing slurry, manure and fertiliser applications
• technologies that stabilise, bind, or retain nitrogen within soils, improving plant nutrient availability while reducing losses through leaching, volatilisation, and greenhouse gas emissions
• recovery and recycling of water and nutrients from sludge, biosolids, digestate, and other organic waste streams
• innovations to improve water quality and reduce agricultural pollution, including microplastics, PFAS, and other novel pollutants
• innovations that improve anaerobic digestion and biomethane production from agricultural and organic waste feedstocks
• technologies that enhance digestate utilisation, nutrient recovery, and environmental performance

3. Climate Resilience and Natural Resource Adaptation

• farm scale and landscape scale water storage solutions
• methods to improve flood mitigation through soil and land management
• solutions to enhance resilience to extreme weather events, including droughts and floods
• innovations that strengthen the resilience of natural and managed water environments under changing climatic conditions
• development of crop varieties with improved water uptake, nutrient uptake, nutrient use efficiency, and climate resilience, including precision breeding approaches

4. Crosscutting Decision Support Tools (improving or low cost scaling)

• low cost monitoring technologies that support optimisation of soil health, water use, nutrient use efficiency, nutrient management, crop performance, carbon management and biodiversity outcomes under variable environmental conditions
• in situ and near real time environmental monitoring solutions that improve the measurement, management, source attribution and reporting of water quality and quantity, emissions and pollutants (ammonia, methane), supporting resource efficiency, regulatory compliance and environmental outcomes
• integrated sensing, data and decision support platforms that combine information from multiple sources, including in-field sensors, laboratory analysis, earth observation, remote sensing, farm management systems and environmental datasets, to provide actionable insights for end users
• advanced analytics, AI, modelling and visualisation tools, including the testing and demonstration of monitoring solutions, to improve farm and agroforestry management decisions through accurate, reliable and scalable deployment under real world conditions

Defra have released a pre-recorded briefing event: watch the recording and download the briefing slides.

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