In a move that signals growing momentum toward practical, bottom-up change in British agriculture, the UK government has announced the launch of the ADOPT Fund (Accelerating Development of Practices and Technologies)—a farmer-led innovation scheme set to open for applications on 28 April 2025.

With the dual pressures of climate change and market volatility, UK farmers face mounting challenges to improve productivity, sustainability, and resilience. The ADOPT Fund aims to equip them with financial support and technical guidance to test, trial, and adopt practical innovations directly on-farm—ensuring that solutions are grounded in real-world needs rather than top-down prescription.

What Is the ADOPT Fund?

The ADOPT Fund is part of the Farming Innovation Programme, delivered by Innovate UK in partnership with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra). It builds on the success of previous schemes like the Research Starter Pilot and the Farming Innovation Pathways (FIP), but places a stronger emphasis on trials led by farmers, growers, and foresters.

💡 Key Objectives:

  • Stimulate farmer-led R&D to address practical, real-world farming problems

  • Encourage the development and early adoption of emerging tools, techniques, and technologies

  • Bridge the gap between scientific research and everyday farm practice

  • Support knowledge exchange across the sector through demonstration and collaboration

What’s Available: Grant Structure and Support

The 2025 ADOPT Fund offers two levels of grant funding:

✅ 1. ADOPT Project Grants

  • Grant size: £50,000 to £100,000 per project

  • Eligibility: Lead applicants must be a farming business, grower, or forestry enterprise based in England

  • Project length: Up to 2 years

  • Scope: Projects must involve on-farm testing or trialling of innovations, with the results shared across the industry

✅ 2. Facilitator Support Grant

  • Grant size: Up to £2,500

  • Purpose: To help cover the cost of working with a facilitator or advisor who can help develop a robust application and coordinate a collaborative project team

In addition, all applicants will have access to the ADOPT Support Hub—a free, fully funded service offering:

  • Workshops and webinars on how to apply

  • One-on-one advisory sessions to shape project ideas

  • Networking with researchers, agritech providers, and advisors

What Kind of Projects Will Be Funded?

Projects must focus on trialling or adapting existing or emerging tools and practices in a practical setting—not blue-sky research.

Some of the priority areas include:

  • 🌾 Soil health and regenerative farming

  • 🐄 Animal health and welfare improvements

  • 🌻 Biodiversity and agroecology

  • 🛰️ Precision farming and smart data use

  • 💧 Water use efficiency

  • 🔄 Circular economy and waste minimisation

  • 🚜 Low-emissions machinery or techniques

Projects can be cross-sector (e.g. combining livestock and arable systems) and must demonstrate how they will deliver tangible benefits for productivity, sustainability, and knowledge sharing.

Why Farmer-Led Innovation Matters Now More Than Ever

The agricultural sector is in transition. The phasing out of Basic Payment Scheme (BPS) support, volatile commodity markets, climate uncertainty, and growing environmental demands are placing pressure on farming businesses of all sizes.

However, UK farmers have also shown resilience, creativity, and openness to innovation when given the right support.

Schemes like ADOPT aim to:

  • Put farmers in the driving seat of innovation—not just passive recipients of science

  • Demonstrate impact quickly, with results visible to peers and neighbouring businesses

  • Build capacity within farming communities to design, lead, and share innovation projects

In short, it's about supporting “by farmers, for farmers” science.

What Makes a Strong Application?

According to Defra and Innovate UK guidance, strong proposals will:

  • Address a clear, defined problem on-farm

  • Trial or adapt a new practice or technology

  • Include collaboration with other farmers, advisors, researchers or businesses

  • Outline how the findings will be shared with the wider industry

  • Have clear timelines, roles, and a feasible budget

All applicants must also be registered in England and have an eligible UK business number.

Case Example: Regenerative Arable Trial in the East Midlands

While ADOPT is new, similar schemes have paved the way for this kind of funding. In 2023, a group of arable farmers in the East Midlands used a Defra pilot grant to trial intercropping with legumes on 150 hectares. Working with an agronomist and local researchers, the group tested five different seed mixes, monitored nitrogen retention, and hosted field walks.

Within a year, several farms saw a 30% reduction in nitrogen input, a 15% increase in pollinator numbers, and improved soil structure—results now being replicated across their networks.

This kind of outcome is exactly what ADOPT hopes to scale up.

How to Apply

Applications for the ADOPT Fund open on 28 April 2025 and must be submitted via the Innovate UK portal.

Interested farmers are strongly encouraged to:

  1. Join a pre-application webinar

  2. Book a free session with an ADOPT Support Hub advisor

  3. Speak to local facilitators or trusted farm advisors

  4. Start building a small but capable project team early

The deadline for submissions will be announced alongside the scheme launch.

Conclusion: Innovation Rooted in Practice

The ADOPT Fund isn’t about funding flashy prototypes or university white papers. It’s about helping real farmers solve real problems—right there in the soil, the barn, or the orchard.

At a time when agriculture is being asked to produce more with less, reduce emissions, increase biodiversity, and remain profitable, farmer-led innovation is not just desirable—it’s essential.

By giving farmers the resources and recognition to lead, schemes like ADOPT will play a key role in shaping a resilient, sustainable, and proudly homegrown future for British agriculture.

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