Deadline Date: July 08, 2026
The ADOPT Facilitator Support Grant: Round 9 provides funding to support farmers, growers, and foresters in developing strong applications for on-farm trials and farm experiment projects through the ADOPT programme.
The grant focuses on supporting the development of Full ADOPT Grant applications, improving application quality, increasing accessibility to ADOPT funding, enhancing innovation engagement across the farming ecosystem, supporting on-farm trials and experiments, and providing access to external Project Facilitators for application development.
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), through the Farming Innovation Programme delivered in partnership with Innovate UK, is investing up to £100,000 in this competition. The initiative is intended to help farmers, growers, and foresters based in England test and trial innovative ideas or solutions on their farms by providing support during the application development stage.
Successful applicants will receive a grant of £2,500 to engage an external Project Facilitator registered in the Innovate UK Business Connect database. The facilitator will assist in preparing and submitting an eligible application for a Full ADOPT Grant competition. The funding is designed to strengthen the quality of submissions and broaden participation in innovation funding opportunities.
Applicants are required to work with their chosen facilitator and include £2,500 under the “other costs” section of the finance portion of the application form. To receive payment, successful applicants must provide evidence within six months that their Full ADOPT Grant application has been submitted for assessment. A claim must also be submitted within three months of receiving the Grant Offer Letter.
Eligible organisations must be active farming, growing, or forestry businesses of any size based in England. Applicants must be able to demonstrate that they are established commercial businesses, including sole traders and partnerships, and must possess a UK bank account.
Funding decisions are made through a competitive process and are subject to available funding. Consideration may also be given to factors such as outstanding payments owed to Innovate UK or UK Research and Innovation. Funding allocations may be adjusted in response to policy changes, portfolio considerations, or wider government funding decisions.
For more information, visit GOV.UK.
