Farming Futures R&D Fund: Climate smart farming - EoI UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £12.5 million from the Farming Futures R&D Fund, a part of the Farming Innovation Programme. Eligibility This competition is open to collaborations only. To lead a project your organisation must be a UK registered: business of any size research organisation research and technology organisation (RTO) You must collaborate with other UK registered organisations. Open now Opened: 30 March 2022 Closes: 18 May 2022
Programme: Innovate Uk
Award:
Opens: 30 March 2022
Closes: 18 May 2022
The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) will work with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), to invest up to £12.5 million in innovation projects.
This funding is part of Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme which is delivered in partnership with UKRI’s Transforming Food Production Challenge.
We will work in collaboration to deliver a portfolio of projects that meet the objectives of the Farming Innovation Programme and specific Defra key priorities. These are around reducing emissions and adapting to a changing climate.
The aim of this funding is to:
Your proposal must be able to demonstrate how the project will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England.
This is stage 1 of a 2 stage competition. The whole process will take at least 8 months.
A decision to proceed with the full stage competition will depend on the outcomes from this EoI. Your application will be checked for changes between your EoI and full stage application.
In applying to this competition, you are entering into a competitive process. This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated.Grant
Your project’s total costs at full stage must be between £3 million and £6 million and can last up to 48 months.
If you are successful, any awards given to primary agricultural producers are subject to the green box exemption under the WTO Agreement on Agriculture.
Please 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.
Your project
If your application is successful in this EoI stage, you will be invited to apply for a full stage competition. In the full stage you must collaborate with other eligible grant claiming partners.
Your full stage project must:
You must only include eligible project costs in your application.
Lead organisation
To lead a project your organisation must be:
If the lead organisation is an academic institution or an RTO it must collaborate with at least 1 UK registered business of any size.
Defra and UKRI’s Transforming Food Production Challenge have allocated up to £12.5 million to fund innovation projects in this competition.
If the majority of your organisation’s work on the project is commercial or economic, your funding request must not exceed the limits below. These limits apply even if your organisation normally acts non-economically.
For industrial research projects, you could get funding for your eligible project costs of:
For more information on company sizes, please refer to the company accounts guidance. This is a change from the EU definition unless you are applying under State aid.
If you are applying for an award funded under State aid Regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission Recommendation of 6 May 2003.