ADOPT Grant for Farmers and Growers: Defra

The government has committed £20.6 million to help bring cutting edge technologies to farms and improve productivity.

This funding is part of Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme, delivered in partnership with Innovate UK.

The money will be allocated via the ADOPT Fund, which will commit up to £20.6 million of funding in 2025/26 to support the introduction of innovative technologies aimed at improving productivity, resilience and sustainability. This is a rolling call, so as one window closes, another will open immediately after. Known dates are detailed at the bottom of this post.

The aim of this competition is to support innovative, on-farm trials or experiments to test ideas or solutions and demonstrate that they will address major on-farm or immediate post farmgate challenges or opportunities.

Grants available

ADOPT has two different types of grants available depending on the needs of the grant applicant. You can apply for a Support Grant and Full Grant in the same or different rounds, depending on what works best for your timeline

1. A small Support Grant to access professional assistance from an industry expert to help develop an application to the Full ADOPT Grant. These small Support Grants are intended for applicants who are less familiar with Innovate UK systems. You do not have to apply for a Support Grant in order to apply for a Full Grant. The next round opens 15th Janaury 2026.
2. The full ADOPT grant for on-farm trial and demonstration projects to improve adoption of new ideas or solutions in the agricultural sector. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) will invest up to £2 million in Round 1. These projects must have total costs of between £50,000 and £100,000. The current round runs from 11th December – 5th February 2026.

Innovate UK Business Connect will be hosting the ADOPT Project Facilitator database. This will include the names of individuals who can help farmers turn ideas into a potential funding opportunity and support in the application submission for ADOPT. Farmers, growers and foresters will be able to request a list of registered facilitators from Innovate UK Business Connect.

Innovate UK have put together a helpful FAQ guide which you can find here.

What will be funded

Your project must have the potential to significantly improve agriculture, horticulture, and/or agro-forestry in one or more of the following areas:

• productivity
• resilience
• sustainability and progression towards net zero farming

Your project must focus on testing and trialling ideas or solutions that are either new or not yet widely used.

Your proposal must demonstrate to other English farmers, growers or foresters how the idea or solution will be of benefit to them.

Projects should fall under the category of industrial reasearch. This means planned research or critical investigation to gain new knowledge and skills. This should be for the purpose of product development, processes or services that lead to an improvement in existing products, processes or services. It can include the creation of component parts to complex systems and may include prototypes in a laboratory or environment with simulated interfaces to existing systems, particularly for generic technology validation.

To lead a project you must be an active farming, growing or forestry business of any size based in England. you must

• embrace open innovation principles and be willing to share results with other farmers, growers or foresters
• have a Project Facilitator as part of the project team who is listed in the ADOPT Innovate UK Business Connect database

Projects that will not be funded

• do not benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England
• are based on equine systems ​
• involve wild caught fisheries
• are for the production of crops or plants for medicinal or pharmaceutical use
• are based on funded crop variety plot trials
• are based on existing demonstration trials or projects
• include aquaculture, such as algae and seaweed, for human consumption
• fermentation systems for bacteria, yeast or fungi​ or cultivated meat

The details and how to apply

Your project’s total costs must be between £50,000 and £100,000. A minimum of 50% of the total grant amount requested by farmers, growers and foresters must be allocated to farmers, growers or foresters geographically based in England. Projects will be funded at 50-80% depeding on business type and size.

The ADOPT programme will run a number of continuous competitions over the financial year. The current round for the ADOPT Grrant is open until 5th February. Each subsequent round’s opening date will be added to this page.

The ADOPT Support Hub, run by ADAS, have been commissioned to work on ADOPT and they can support applicants and funded projects throughout their journey.

To see full eligibility and scope criteria, access information about the project facilitator support grant, and to apply, please visit the Innovation Funding Service. It is expected that rounds will continue on a rolling basis until 2027; a list of rounds into early 2026 is detailed below.

You can see other open funding calls in our Funding Finder.

Confirmed future dates

Facilitator Support Grant

• Round 6: 15th Janaury 2026 – 25th February 2026*

Full ADOPT Grant

• Round 5: 11 December 2025 – 5 February 2026*
• Round 6: 5 February 2026 – 8 April 2026

*Dates subject to change