Defra Farming Innovation Investor Partnership 2025

Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, will work with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) to invest up to £5 million in innovation projects.

UK registered SMEs can apply for a share of this funding to develop innovative farming solutions - this must align with private investment from selected investor partners.

The competition opens on Monday, June 2, 2025 and closes on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, at 11am.

The aim of this competition is to:

• develop ambitious late stage innovative solutions, technologies, systems or approaches that will make significant steps towards improving productivity, profitability, increasing sustainability and resilience
  
• help the agriculture sector move towards achieving net zero emissions by 2050
  
• support commercialisation of late stage experimental development projects that are close to market and ultimately their adoption by farmers
  

Your proposal must be able to demonstrate how the project will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England.

To be offered grant funding your project must be assessed as eligible for grant funding and must have secured aligned investment with a lead investor from the pool. You can view the areas of expertise and investment preferences for the pool of investors.

You can apply for this competition before you speak to an investor but initiating dialogue with investors is strongly encouraged. 

In addition to investment, the lead investors in the pool can provide you with commercial acumen in (e.g.) leadership, market access, skills and resources.

Successful UK registered SME’s will receive:

• grant funding from Innovate UK
  
• aligned investment funding with one of the programme’s pool of investors acting as the lead investor
  

If you would like help to find an investor partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect’s Investor Partnerships team or Agrifood team.