Defra and Innovate UK are offering English farming, growing and forestry businesses grants of up to £160,000 to run on-farm trials that test new ideas and put them to work in the field. The deadline for applications is 29 July 2026.
The Full ADOPT Grant is part of Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme, delivered with Innovate UK. It funds farmer-led, on-farm trials and experiments that test ideas or solutions which are new or not yet widely used, then share what works with other farmers, growers and foresters. Your project needs to show real potential to improve productivity, resilience, or sustainability and progression towards net zero farming.
Below, I have explained the key things you need to know about this competition before you apply: who is eligible, how much funding is on the table, and what the application process looks like.
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Who is Eligible?
Your Organisation
To lead a project, you must be an active farming, growing or forestry business of any size based in England. You must be an established commercial business, including sole traders and partnerships, and have an eligible UK bank account.
You must collaborate with at least one other farming, growing or forestry business of any size based in the UK. Community interest companies (CICs) and charities can’t lead, and academic institutions can’t lead or work alone.
Alongside the lead, your project team can include, as collaborators:
- Academic institutions
- Businesses of any size
- Charities
- Not for profits
- Public sector organisations
- Research and technology organisations (RTOs)
- Research organisations
Your Project
Your project must:
- Have total costs between £50,000 and £200,000
- Last between 6 and 24 months
- Start by 1 December 2026
All funded work must be carried out in the UK, and you must intend to exploit the project results from or within the UK.
Your project must also:
- Address a significant challenge or opportunity in agriculture, horticulture or agro-forestry
- Demonstrate to other English farmers, growers or foresters how they will benefit
- Embrace open innovation and be willing to share its results with other farmers, growers or foresters
- Focus on testing or trialling an idea or solution that is new or not yet widely used
- Have a Project Facilitator from the ADOPT database on the project team
- Have the potential to significantly improve productivity, resilience, or sustainability and progression towards net zero farming
- Include at least one other UK farmer, grower or forester claiming grant funding
Every project needs an approved ADOPT Project Facilitator on the team. This is an industry expert from the Innovate UK Business Connect database who helps you scope your idea and shape your application before you submit it.
Innovate UK won’t fund projects that:
- Are based on equine systems
- Are based on existing demonstration trials or projects
- Are based on funded crop variety plot trials
- Are for cultivated meat
- Are for the production of crops or plants for medicinal or pharmaceutical use
- Do not benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England
- Involve aquaculture, like algae and seaweed for human consumption
- Involve fermentation systems for bacteria, yeast or fungi for human consumption
- Involve wild caught fisheries
How Much Funding Can I Apply For?
The amount you can claim depends on your organisation’s type and size and the sort of research your project involves.
Individual grants are worth up to £160,000.
If you are an active farming, growing or forestry business based in England, Wales or Scotland, you can claim up to 80% of your eligible costs, whatever your size. Farming businesses based in Northern Ireland can claim up to 70%.
Funding Example
For example, if you’re a farming business in England with eligible project costs of £200,000, you could claim a grant of £160,000. You will need to fund the remaining £40,000 from other sources, like R&D Tax Relief, investment or loans.
Applying as a Non-Commercial Organisation
Non-economic organisations can share up to 60% of the total eligible project costs and are funded at higher rates:
- Up to 100% of eligible costs if you are a charity, not-for-profit, public sector organisation, research organisation, or RTO
- Up to 80% of full economic costs (FEC) if you’re an academic institution, like a university
How Do I Apply?
The deadline for applications is 29 July 2026.
Applications are submitted via Innovate UK’s Innovation Funding Service (IFS) portal.
The application is split into three sections:
Project Details
This section gives the background to your application and isn’t scored. It covers:
- Application details
- Application team
- Project summary
- Public description
- Research category
- Scope
Most answers in this section are limited to 400 words.
Application Questions
There are 14 questions in total:
- 7 unscored administrative questions covering topics like animal testing, international collaboration and trusted research
- 7 scored questions covering your idea or solution, trial approach, team and resources, outcomes and impacts, adoption and communication, project management and risks, and value for money
You can include appendices (PDFs of up to two A4 pages) for the approach, team, and project management questions.
Finances
Each organisation in your project enters its own costs, organisation details and funding details, and academic institutions use the Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) method.
Your application will be reviewed by three independent assessors. Their individual scores will be combined to determine your final result.
If you’re successful, you’ll be notified by 9 September 2026.
Like with most competitions, Innovate UK takes a ‘portfolio approach’ by funding projects across different technologies, markets and technological maturities. This means that a strong score won’t necessarily guarantee that your application will be successful.
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