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Payments for research and innovation

Funding available for robotics and automation in farming

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Device controlling agricultural robot

From 9 January 2023, farmers, growers and agritech businesses in England will be able to apply for funding to develop innovative ideas in the areas of robotics and automation. In this post, I’ll give an overview of the competition, dates for your diary and links for you to find out more.

Apply for share of £16.5 million innovation funding

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From the end of this month, £16.5 million will be available through 2 new research and development competitions. There is no set theme for these competitions as we don’t want to create barriers to innovation. However, all projects must focus on improving the productivity, environmental sustainability and resilience of England’s agricultural, horticultural and forestry sectors.  In this post, I'll give an overview and an update on the previous rounds.

Further funding for farmers, foresters and growers to innovate

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Gap in a hedgerow with sheep in background. Hartlip, Kent.

The Farming Innovation Programme provides research and development funding to farmers and growers who want to develop and use new, innovative methods and technologies.  The aim of the fund is to support farmers to become more productive, environmentally sustainable and resilient to the global food security challenges of the future. You might remember that alongside UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) we launched the first rounds of funding in October, and 2 more in March. In this post, I’ll share information about our latest funding opportunity: the Research Starter Projects Competition.

The Farming Innovation Programme in 2022

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Cutting silage near wind farm Askham in Furness Cumbria

In October, we launched the first rounds of funding in our Farming Innovation Programme. As we've been processing the applications, we've seen a promising spread of ideas across the livestock, horticulture and broadacre sub-sectors. These ideas are coming in from across the whole of England. In this post, I'll share next steps and what to look out for this year.

Farming Innovation Programme: applications open next week

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Earlier this summer, we said that we would launch the first competitions of the new Industry-led Research and Development Partnerships Fund in October. I'm pleased to say that we’re on track. The £17.5 million Industry-led Research and Development Partnerships Fund is the first of 3 funds to launch in the new Farming Innovation Programme. Applications for a share of this funding will open Wednesday 20 October 2021.