Farming Innovation Programme: Feasibility Round 5
This competition funds feasibility studies for on-farm innovations that drive productivity, sustainability, and net-zero goals, requiring a collaborative consortium that includes at least one commercial business and active participation from English farmers, growers, or foresters.
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Competition Scope & Overview
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will invest up to £15 million to fund innovation projects in this competition. This is subject to a sufficient number of high quality applications being received. This funding is part of Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme which is delivered in partnership with Innovate UK. The aim of this competition is to fund feasibility studies investigating new solutions that will address major on-farm or immediate post farmgate challenges or opportunities. The funding will support projects to:
investigate early stage solutions that have the potential to substantially improve the overall productivity, sustainability and resilience of farming, and move existing agricultural sectors to net zero prioritise solutions that will have positive outputs for farmers, growers and foresters in commercially relevant situations accelerate research and development of new agricultural solutions by actively engaging collaboration with the wider UK research community in the innovation process
Your proposal must be able to demonstrate how the project will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England.
In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition has a funding limit, so we may not be able to fund all the proposed projects. It may be the case that your project scores highly but we are still unable to fund it.
We consider a range of factors when determining whether to provide funding to applicants. This includes an assessment of prior conduct, such as any outstanding payments owed to Innovate UK or UKRI. Such factors may influence the funding decision, potentially resulting in a refusal of funding or an award subject to additional scrutiny.
We also reserve the right to adjust funding allocations for any of our competitions. This may be in response to changes in policy, portfolio funding considerations or broader government funding decisions.
This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief. We cannot guarantee other government or third party sites will always show the correct competition information.
Official Applicant Guidance Documents
Applicant Briefing Slides - Farming Innovation Programme Feasibility Rd5.pdf
This document is an official applicant briefing for the Farming Innovation Programme: Feasibility Round 5. It provides essential guidance on competition scope, eligibility criteria, application processes, and financial requirements for organisations seeking R&D funding.
Download Official DocumentFarming Innovation Programme Feasibility R5 - Assessor guidance for applicants.pdf
This document is the official assessor guidance for the Farming Innovation Programme: Feasibility Rd 5. It provides applicants with the specific scoring criteria and detailed requirements for each of the 18 questions, essential for crafting a high-scoring, compliant grant application.
Download Official DocumentApplication Questions & Guidance Brief
Every question below carries specific word limits and guidance criteria.
Project summary
Official Guidance
Describe your project briefly and be clear about what makes it innovative. We use this section to assign the right experts to assess your application.
Public description
Official Guidance
Describe your project in detail and in a way that you are happy to see published. Do not include any commercially sensitive information. If we award your project funding, we will publish this description. This can happen before you start your project.
Scope
Official Guidance
Describe how your project fits the scope of the competition by: indicating which on-farm or immediate post farmgate challenges or opportunities you are addressing; indicating if you are addressing one or more of the four industry subsectors; describing how your project will aim to significantly improve upon productivity, resilience, sustainability and progression towards low emission farming. If your project is not in scope, it will not be sent for assessment. We will tell you the reason why.
Applicant location (not scored)
Official Guidance
You must state the name and full registered address of your organisation, all partners and any subcontractors working on your project. We are collecting this information to understand more about the geographical location of all applicants.
Farmers, growers or foresters location (not scored)
Official Guidance
Provide a list of the addresses of any farmers, growers or foresters claiming or receiving grant funding in the project. This is required for Subsidy Control. If no farmers, growers or foresters are requesting grant funding write ‘not applicable’. If your project has farmers, growers or foresters requesting grant funding, a minimum of 50% of the amount requested by those organisations, must come from farmers, growers or foresters geographically based in England.
Animal testing (not scored)
Official Guidance
Will your project involve any trials with animals or animal testing? You must select one option: Yes, No. We will only support innovation projects conducted to the highest standards of animal welfare. Further information for proposals involving animal testing is available at the UKRI Good Research Hub and NC3R’s animal welfare guidance.
Permits and licences (not scored)
Official Guidance
Will you have the correct permits and licences in place to carry out your project? We are unable to fund projects which do not have the correct permits or licences in place by your project start date. You must select one option: Yes, No, In the process of being applied for, Not applicable.
International collaboration (not scored)
Official Guidance
Does your proposed work involve any international collaboration or engagement? You must provide details of any expected international collaboration or engagement. You must include a list of the names and the countries, any international project co-leads, project partners, visiting researchers, or other collaborators are based in. You must also include details of any subcontractors or service providers. If your proposed work does not involve international collaboration or engagement, your answer must confirm this.
Export licence (not scored)
Official Guidance
You must indicate whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance. You must select one option: Yes, No.
Trusted Research and Innovation (not scored)
Official Guidance
You must explain if your proposed project work relates to UKRI’s Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) Principles, including: a list of any dual use (both military and non-military) applications to your research; a list of the areas where your project is relevant to one or more of the 17 areas of the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act; whether an export control license is required for this project under the academic export control guidance and the status of any applications; a list of any items or substances on the UK Strategic Export Control List. If your proposed work does not relate to UKRI’s TR&I Principles, your answer must confirm this. We may ask you to provide additional TR&I information at a later date, in line with UKRI TR&I Principles and funding terms and conditions.
Need or challenge
Official Guidance
What is the business need, technological challenge, or market opportunity behind your innovation? Explain: the farming or agricultural problem, need, technological challenge or market opportunity identified; how your project outputs would have the potential to deliver large improvements in productivity, resilience and sustainability, while significantly decreasing the environmental impact of farming; how your project is proposing to help the industry transition towards net zero emissions and benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England; the wider economic, social, environmental, cultural or political challenges which are influential in creating the opportunity, such as incoming regulations.
Approach and innovation
Official Guidance
What approach will you take and where will the focus of the innovation be? Explain: the approach or innovation and how will it address the identified problem, need or challenge; whether the innovation will focus on existing technologies in new areas, the development of new technologies for existing areas, or a totally disruptive approach; the freedom you have to operate; how your project will complement or incorporate into existing technologies to deliver more efficient and sustainable farm production systems; the nature of the outputs you expect from the project, for example, reports, demonstrator, know-how, new process, product or service design, and how these will help you to target the need, challenge or opportunity identified. You can submit one appendix to support your answer. It can include diagrams and charts. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.
Team and resources
Official Guidance
Who is in the project team and what are their roles? Explain: the roles, skills and experience of all members of the project team that are relevant to the approach you will be taking; how you will work with farmers, growers or foresters throughout the project to ensure outputs remain focussed on end users needs; the resources, equipment and facilities needed for the project and how you will access them; the details of any vital external parties, including subcontractors, who you will need to work with to successfully carry out the project; the current relationships between project partners and how these will change as a result of the project; any roles you will need to recruit for. You can submit one appendix, with a short summary of the main people working on the project to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.
Market awareness
Official Guidance
What does the market or markets you are targeting look like? Describe: the target markets for the project outcomes and any other potential markets, either domestic, international or both; the size of the target markets for the project outcomes, backed up by references where available; the structure and dynamics of the target markets, including customer segmentation, together with predicted growth rates within clear timeframes; the target markets’ main supply or value chains and business models, and any barriers to entry that exist; the current UK position in targeting these markets; the size and main features of any other markets not already listed. If your project is highly innovative, where the market may be unexplored, describe or explain: what the market’s size might be; how your project will try to explore the market’s potential.
Outcomes and route to market
Official Guidance
How are you going to grow your business and increase long term productivity as a result of the project? Explain: your current position in the markets and supply or value chains outlined, and whether you will be extending or establishing your market position; your target customers or end users, and the value to them, for example, why they would use or buy your product; your route to market, particularly if there have been changes to market dynamics; how you are going to profit from the innovation, including increased revenues or cost reduction; how the innovation will affect your productivity and growth, in both the short and the long term; how you will protect and exploit the outputs of the project, for example, through know-how, patenting, designs or changes to your business model; your strategy for targeting the other markets you have identified during or after the project. If there is any research organisation activity in the project, describe: your plans to spread the project’s research outputs over a reasonable timescale; how you expect to use the results generated from the project in further research activities.
Competitors and barriers
Official Guidance
Who else is operating in this space and what barriers limit your ability to exploit your project output? Explain: the process you have completed to evaluate the work of competitors including those near market or in development; how does your proposal build on, or differentiate from, competitor offerings; where applicable, what regulatory, cultural or other barriers exist, both in the UK and internationally that prevent you from fully exploiting this opportunity.
Wider impacts
Official Guidance
What impact might this project have outside the project team? Explain: the environmental, sustainability and resilience benefits from the project to external parties, for example, contributing to net zero targets for emissions and reduction of waste; the economic benefits from the project to external parties, such as productivity increases and import substitution at a regional or national scale; the long-term social and welfare impacts from the project; how you have determined that the project outputs will not widen any farming inequalities, including any negative impacts that you have identified and how will you mitigate against these.
Project management
Official Guidance
How will you manage your project effectively? Explain: the main work packages of your project, indicating the lead partner assigned to each and the total cost of each one; your approach to project management, identifying any major tools and mechanisms you will use to get a successful and innovative project outcome; the management reporting lines; your project plan in enough detail to identify any links or dependencies between work packages or milestones. You must submit a project plan or Gantt chart as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.
Risks
Official Guidance
What are the main risks for this project? Explain: the main risks and uncertainties of the project, including the technical, commercial, managerial and environmental risks; how you will mitigate these risks; any project inputs that are critical to completion, such as resources, expertise, and data sets; any output likely to be subject to regulatory requirements, certification, ethical issues and other requirements identified, and how you will manage this. You must submit a risk register as an appendix to support your answer. It must be a PDF no larger than 10MB. It can be up to two A4 pages and must be legible at 100% zoom.
Added value
Official Guidance
How will this public funding help you to accelerate or enhance your approach to developing your project towards commercialisation? What impact would this award have on the organisations involved? Explain: what advantages public funding would offer your project, for example, appeal to investors, more partners, reduced risk or a faster route to market; the likely impact of the project outcomes on the organisations involved; what other routes of investment or means of support you have already engaged with and why they were not suitable; how any existing or potential investment or support will be used in conjunction with the grant funding; what your project would look like without public funding; how this project would change the R&D activities of all the organisations involved.
Costs and value for money
Official Guidance
How much will the project cost and how does it represent value for money for the team and the taxpayer? In terms of your project goals, explain: your total eligible project costs; the grant you are requesting; how each partner will finance their contributions to your project; how this project represents value for money for you and the taxpayer; how it compares to what you would spend your money on otherwise; the balance of costs and grant across the project partners; any subcontractor costs and why they are critical to your project.