£5m to fund agritech innovation

Added on 06 July 2023

Tags

Small and medium-sized farm businesses will be able to apply for a share of £5 million to fund innovative ideas aimed at boosting sustainable food production, supporting nature recovery and driving progress towards net zero as a new competition launches later this month.

Building on the Nature for Finance event at Downing Street last month, the Farming Innovation Investor Partnership Competition aims to accelerate agricultural research and development by blending grant funding with private investment.

It specifically seeks to support pioneering projects across the agricultural sector that have demonstrated the potential to grow and generate revenue, supporting the commercialisation of on-farm technologies that can then be rolled out across the industry.

The competition is set to open on Monday 24th July, and projects are encouraged to apply from across the livestock, arable, horticulture, bioeconomy and agroforestry sectors.

Applicants can bid for up to 45% of project costs in grant funding, which must be matched by at least twice the amount in private investment. There is no limit to the level of private investment for projects, and previous schemes have shown the ability to attract significantly higher levels of investment.