ADOPT Facilitator Support Grant: Round 11 (2026): £2,500 for England Farm Businesses

ADOPT Facilitator Support Grant: Round 11 (2026): £2,500 for England Farm Businesses

Status and cycle history

The latest facilitator-support competition shown in the official Innovate UK and Innovation Funding Service (IFS) listings is ADOPT Facilitator Support Grant: Round 11. That round is closed. It opened on 20 August 2026 and closed on 30 September 2026 at 11:00am UK time. The official competition page says it is now closed; the official UKRI opportunity record also labels it closed. The official listings checked for this reference show no later facilitator-support round. This page is therefore a historical reference, not an invitation to apply. Do not use the dates below as a deadline for a future cycle.

Round 11 was delivered by Innovate UK with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), through Defra’s Farming Innovation Programme. It offered a support grant to help an England-based farm, growing, or forestry business work with an external Project Facilitator on an application to a Full ADOPT Grant competition. The Support Grant was a separate application-development award. It was not a requirement for applying to a Full ADOPT Grant, and it did not pay for carrying out the farm trial itself.

Round 11 at a glance

These dates and terms describe Round 11 only. The notification and start milestones belong to the round’s published timetable; applicants who received awards were also expected to follow their grant offer and project setup instructions.

What the support grant was for

Round 11 offered up to £2,500 for each successful participant to engage an external Project Facilitator. The facilitator’s role was to help the applicant develop and submit an eligible Full ADOPT Grant application. The money was linked to that application work, not a general business grant or reimbursement for normal farm costs. The competition required the facilitator’s name and the £2,500 amount in the application’s “other costs” finance line.

The applicant’s intended Full ADOPT project had to be an on-farm trial or experiment testing an idea or solution that was new or not yet widely used. The trial should produce useful evidence under real farm conditions. The support application needed to explain what the proposed Full ADOPT project would test, the challenge it addressed, and why the learning might matter to other farmers, growers, or foresters in England.

The competition was competitive and had a £100,000 total fund. Meeting the eligibility rules did not guarantee support. Innovate UK said it might not fund every application and could consider prior conduct, including overdue payments owed to Innovate UK or UKRI. It also reserved the right to adjust allocations in response to policy, portfolio, or wider public funding decisions.

Who was eligible

Round 11 accepted a single applicant. The lead organisation had to be an active farming, growing, or forestry business of any size based in England, able to evidence that it was an established commercial business, and have a UK bank account. Sole traders and partnerships could qualify if they met these conditions. Organisations without a profit-driven commercial focus, including charities and Community Interest Companies, were excluded. Subcontractors were not allowed in this competition.

The applicant had to engage an external Project Facilitator registered in the Innovate UK Business Connect database, work with that facilitator to develop and submit an eligible Full ADOPT Grant application, and enter the £2,500 maximum amount in the finance section as other costs. A farmer, grower, or forester could submit only one application in the round and could receive no more than two Facilitator Support Grants in total.

The eventual Full ADOPT proposal also had to fit the programme’s purpose. It needed to address a significant on-farm or immediate post-farmgate challenge or opportunity in agriculture, horticulture, or agro-forestry. It had to offer potential improvements in productivity, resilience, sustainability, or progression towards net zero farming and explain how the result could benefit other farmers, growers, or foresters in England. The idea had to be new or not yet widely used, with a practical test or trial rather than a description of routine production.

The published Round 11 rules excluded projects that did not benefit England’s farming, growing, or forestry sectors; funded crop-variety plot trials; existing demonstration trials or projects; medicinal or pharmaceutical crop production; cultivated meat; equine systems; wild-caught fisheries; aquaculture such as algae or seaweed for human consumption; and fermentation systems using bacteria, yeast, or fungi for human consumption. Proposals dependent on export performance or mandated domestic inputs were also outside the competition. These are rules for the intended Full ADOPT project, so they were relevant when deciding whether facilitator support could lead to a viable full application.

How the application worked

Applicants used the Innovation Funding Service and completed three sections: project details, application questions, and finances. In project details they entered the Support Grant title, a proposed start date, and a three-month duration. The project summary described the Full ADOPT proposal and identified the relevant agricultural, horticultural, or forestry area so it could be routed to suitable expertise. A scope response explained how the intended project would test a new or not-yet-widely-used solution on-farm or immediately post-farmgate. An out-of-scope proposal would not be sent for assessment.

The application included information about the applicant business and its location, the proposed idea or solution, expected benefits to other farmers, and the Project Facilitator and wider Full ADOPT team. The applicant had to identify the facilitator and describe their relevant skills, experience, and business relationship to the project, if any. They also described the intended team, resources, equipment, facilities, and any additional parties needed to conduct the proposed trial. The finance section named the facilitator under other costs and entered £2,500. The rules prohibited subcontractor costs.

The application questions asked for enough detail to assess whether the proposed idea responded to a real problem, why it might improve on current practice, and how the applicant would test it. The benefits explanation connected expected changes to productivity, resilience, sustainability, or net zero progress and set out how another farm business might adopt the idea. Applicants needed to answer every question and confirm that the proposal met the eligibility and scope rules. The form instructions prohibited web addresses and other URLs in answers because assessors would not open them.

Applicants could reopen an application after submission while the competition remained open, but they had to resubmit before the deadline. That was a facility for correcting an application within the live window, not an extension. It no longer applies to Round 11 because the competition is closed.

Assessment, award, and payment

An independent assessor reviewed the application using relevant expertise. The competition used a funding limit, so an eligible or well-scored proposal could still be unsuccessful if it did not reach the threshold or was not selected through any portfolio approach used for the round. Unsuccessful applicants could view assessor feedback through their IFS portal after notification.

Successful applicants completed project setup through the IFS and supplied information for mandatory checks on the organisation, project costs, and documentation. Innovate UK issued a Grant Offer Letter (GOL) in the portal after setup. The applicant had to sign and upload the letter for approval; confirmation of approval and relevant dates followed.

The Round 11 overview stated that the applicant had to provide evidence within six months of funding being awarded that the Full ADOPT application had been sent for assessment before a support payment could be made. The claim instructions separately required submission of a claim within three months of receiving the approved GOL. To make the claim, the successful applicant supplied the Full ADOPT application number that had gone to assessment and the Project Facilitator’s invoice for the full £2,500 grant amount. These steps are distinct: the full application had to reach assessment, and the claim needed the application number and invoice within the stated claim period. The grant was not an advance payment for unrelated farm activity.

Scope and proposal preparation reference

For an archived Round 11 application, a useful proposal began with a specific operational problem on the holding and explained why it also mattered beyond that single business. The applicant then identified the proposed solution, the conditions under which it would be tested, and what evidence would indicate whether it worked. A clear trial question helps a facilitator connect the practical idea to the Full ADOPT scope. The application also needed to make clear how the work could help other English farm businesses, rather than presenting a private improvement with no wider learning.

A suitable facilitator needed to be registered in the Innovate UK Business Connect database and able to help the applicant prepare a Full ADOPT submission. Before the competition closed, applicants would have needed to confirm that person’s availability, agree the application-development work, and ensure the facilitator name was consistent in the project question and finance section. The facilitator supported the application; they did not remove the applicant’s responsibility to provide accurate business details, explain the trial, and check the eligibility and scope requirements.

The Support Grant was optional. A business could apply directly to an appropriate Full ADOPT Grant competition without first receiving facilitator support. Conversely, receiving a Support Grant did not guarantee a Full ADOPT award. Its purpose was to help a participant prepare a stronger full application, with payment dependent on meeting the evidence and claim requirements.

Official records

• UKRI opportunity record for ADOPT Facilitator Support Grant: Round 11: https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/adopt-facilitator-support-grant-round-11/
• Innovation Funding Service Round 11 competition overview: https://apply-for-innovation-funding.service.gov.uk/competition/2556/overview/ff6d6e0a-92ee-4719-a0fb-2e4bc2aa9c4d
• ADOPT Support Hub: https://www.farmpep.net/adoptsupport

The official pages are the authority for any future reopening, replacement round, or changes to the programme. This local entry records the latest published closed facilitator-support round located when it was reviewed.