Farming Futures: Nutrient Management Phase 1 – Feasibility

UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £15 million across the two strands of this competition, to develop innovative solutions for nutrient management.
This funding is from the Farming Futures R&D Fund.

Competition opens: Wednesday 29 May 2024
Competition closes: Wednesday 24 July 2024 11:00am

Description

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) will invest up to £15 million in innovation projects.

This funding is part of Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme, which is a partnership with and delivered by Innovate UK.

The aim of this competition is to fund collaborative development projects with ambitious solutions to address the challenges related to nutrient management in soils and water associated with agricultural livestock and crop production. The solutions provided will enable sustainable and resilient farming.

Projects should align with the following Defra targets and commitments:

• the Environment Improvement Plan to reduce nitrogen, phosphate and sediment pollution by 40% by 2038
• the Clean Air Strategy to reduce emissions of ammonia by 16% by 2030
• to achieve Net Zero by 2050 where the agriculture contribution is 33%

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

This competition is split into 2 strands:

• Strand 1: Farming Futures: Nutrient Management Phase 1 – Feasibility (this strand)
• Strand 2: Farming Futures: Nutrient Management Phase 1 – Industrial Research

It is proposed that Innovate UK will run an additional competition, Farming Futures: Nutrient Management Phase 2 – Industrial Research, in Autumn 2024. This Phase 2 competition will have higher project costs than can be supported through the Phase 1 competition.

This competition closes at 11am UK time on the deadline stated in this Innovate UK competition brief. We cannot guarantee other government or third party sites will always show the correct competition information.

Who can apply

Your project must:

• have total costs between £200,000 and £500,000
• start by 1 January 2025
• end by 31 December 2025 for 12 month duration projects
• end by 31 December 2026 for 24 month duration projects
• last between 12 and 24 months
• be able to demonstrate how the project will benefit farmers or growers in England
• carry out all of its project work in the UK
• intend to exploit the results from or in the UK

Projects must always start on the first of the month and this must be stated within your application. Your project start date will be reflected in your grant offer letter if you are successful.
You must only include eligible project costs in your application.

Dates

• 29 May 2024 – Competition opens
• 30 May 2024 – Online briefing event: join at 11.30am (Briefing slides will be available to download from supporting information after the event)
• 5 June 2024 – Consortia building event at 2pm: register here
• 24 July 2024 11:00am – Competition closes
• 29 August 2024 – Applicants notified

How to apply

Before you start
You must read the guidance on applying for a competition on the Innovation Funding Service before you start.

Before submitting, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure:

• that all the information provided in the application is correct
• your proposal meets the eligibility and scope criteria
• all sections of the application are marked as complete
• that all partners have completed all assigned sections and accepted the terms and conditions (T&Cs)

You can reopen your application once submitted, up until the competition deadline. You must resubmit the application before the competition deadline.

What we ask you
The application is split into three sections:

• Project details.
• Application questions.
• Finances.