Defra grants help farmers ADOPT new innovation

• Farmer-led funding now available

• Support for projects big and small

• Goal to support farm productivity

Grants are now available for farmers who want to improve their productivity and increase their business resilience.

The ADOPT £20.6m fund supports the introduction of innovative technologies aimed at improving productivity, resilience, and sustainability. It includes options for farmers to test innovative solutions on their farms.

Known in full as the Accelerating Development of Practices and Technologies Fund, ADOPT provides collaborative farmer-led, innovation grants to farmers and farm businesses testing new technology and practices on their farm.

The farmer-led fund opened on 28 April, following government guidance published earlier last month. Two types of grants are available – a larger full grant and a smaller facilitator support grant.

Strengthen food security

Full ADOPT grants are available for on-farm trials and demonstration projects to improve adoption of new ideas or solutions in the agricultural sector. These projects must have total costs of between £50,000 and £100,000.

Smaller ADOPT facilitator support grants will pay £2,500 for a farmer, grower or forester based to engage the services of an external project facilitator to support with submissions for a full grant.

Defra farm minister Daniel Zeichner said the funding would help to strengthen the country’s food security, increase farmers’ profits and protect nature as part of the government’s “plan for change”.

“I’m delighted to see money getting out the door to British farmers,” said Mr Zeichner. “This £45m will support them with technology to boost food production, profits and the rural economy.”

Facilitators

The British On-Farm Innovation Network (BOFIN) is one of the ADOPT programme’s approved project facilitators. It is ready to encourage farmers to explore the opportunities following the opening of the fund to applications.

“The long-awaited ADOPT Fund puts farmers in the driving seat of innovation, enabling them to harness the new technologies or innovations they believe could bring productivity gains,” said BOFIN’s Tom Allen-Stevens.

“We want to make sure all farmers are aware of the opportunities this fund creates, which is why we are hosting this webinar. I encourage anyone interested to register to learn more and start developing their ideas.”

Mr Allen-Stevens said BOFIN’s role as facilitators would primarily be to help farmers apply for grants. Then, for those that are successful, it would ensure farmers could focus on what matters.

“This will include running trials that boost productivity and sustainability for their own businesses and the wider industry – while we handle the paperwork, partnerships and project management.”

For more information, please visit www.bofin.org.uk/adopt

Funding is worth £45m, says Defra

Variable rate irrigation systems and health monitors for livestock are just two of the innovations that could be funded new government grants.

Defra says it wants to support a wide range of projects and products which will help more farmers.  As well as the ADOPT fund, it is also launching two further competitions under the Farming Innovation Programme (FIP).

From 5 May, FIP will make available £12.5m to support collaborative research into ways to reduce on-farm emissions, helping farms to become more sustainable and climate-resilient.

A further £12.5m competition will fund R&D using precision-bred crops to improve yield, reduce chemical inputs and enhance disease resistance. This builds on the new opportunities to develop precision-bred gene-edited cr0ps.

FIP is Defra’s flagship innovation programme. Delivered by Innovate UK, it forms part of the government’s wider commitment to food production and security, farm productivity and nature.

Together, ADOPT and the two FIP funds are worth a combined total of £45.6m. They will support multiple projects across the research and development (R&D) lifecycle, from early-stage concepts to on-farm trials.