ADOPT Facilitator Support Grant: Round 10 – UKRI

ADOPT Facilitator Support Grant: Round 10

The ADOPT Facilitator Support Grant is a small grant for a farmer, grower or forester in England who needs professional help developing an application to a Full ADOPT Grant competition. Round 10 offers £2,500 to engage an external Project Facilitator. The facilitator’s role is to help turn an on-farm trial or experiment into a clear, eligible and complete Full ADOPT application.

The official ADOPT schedule lists Round 10 as opening on 9 July 2026 and closing on 19 August 2026. It lists support starting from 1 November 2026. This is a support grant, not the funding for the trial itself: the future Full ADOPT application is intended to seek support for testing a new or not yet widely used idea in real on-farm conditions.

At a glance

The schedule is the right place to confirm the current round and deadline. The Innovation Funding Service publishes the detailed competition information and application form when a round opens. Read the current instructions there before submitting, because the form and the competition guidance control what you must provide.

What the £2,500 supports

The grant pays for external facilitation connected with preparing a Full ADOPT Grant application. It is intended for applicants who want to test a practical idea but are less familiar with Innovate UK systems or need structured assistance to assemble a strong submission. The work may include sharpening the problem statement, setting out the proposed on-farm test, checking that the idea fits the Full ADOPT scope, and helping the applicant explain how other farmers, growers or foresters could benefit.

The grant does not replace the Full ADOPT Grant. The project described in the support-grant application should be the project you intend to take forward to a Full ADOPT competition. That project must involve an on-farm trial or experiment testing a new or not yet widely used idea or solution. It should address a significant challenge or opportunity and have the potential to improve productivity, resilience, sustainability or progression towards net zero farming.

There is a practical condition attached to the award. A successful applicant must work with the facilitator to develop and submit an eligible Full ADOPT application. Evidence that the Full ADOPT application has been sent for assessment must be provided before the support grant can be claimed. The competition information also says the claim must be submitted within three months of receiving the Grant Offer Letter. Plan the facilitator’s work around producing a real submission, rather than treating the grant as general consultancy money.

Who can apply

The lead applicant must be an active farming, growing or forestry business based in England. The business can be any size, and the guidance specifically includes sole traders and partnerships. You must be able to show that the business is an established commercial operation and must have a UK bank account.

The commercial requirement matters. Organisations that are not profit driven or do not have a commercial focus, including Community Interest Companies and charities, are not eligible to participate in this competition. The applicant should therefore describe the trading business that will lead the future Full ADOPT project, rather than presenting an informal group, a research idea without a commercial farm lead, or a non-profit organisation as the lead.

You also need an external Project Facilitator who is registered in the Innovate UK Business Connect facilitator database. The person named in the application is the professional who will work with you on the Full ADOPT submission. The guidance does not treat an unregistered consultant as an acceptable substitute, so check the database and record the facilitator’s name before completing the form.

There are limits on applications. A farmer, grower or forester can submit only one application in this competition round and can receive a maximum of two Facilitator Support Grants in total. Subcontractors are not allowed in this competition. If your proposed Full ADOPT project needs partners, equipment, facilities or other service providers, explain those needs in the relevant application question, but do not turn the support-grant application into a subcontracting arrangement.

Is your proposed Full ADOPT project in scope?

The support grant is useful only when the underlying project fits ADOPT. The project should test a new or not yet widely used idea or solution through an on-farm or immediate post-farmgate trial or experiment. It should be relevant to agriculture, horticulture or agro-forestry and should produce learning that can help other farmers, growers or foresters in England decide whether to adopt the approach.

A good project description starts with a specific operational problem. For example, you might need to test a different way to improve resilience in a livestock system, assess a horticultural practice under working conditions, or examine an agro-forestry approach that could improve productivity and environmental performance. The support grant does not require you to have every trial detail finalised, but you should be able to explain what you want to test, where it would be tested, why the existing approach is insufficient, and what evidence would make the result useful to others.

The Full ADOPT scope excludes projects that do not benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England, existing demonstration trials or projects, and funded crop variety plot trials. It also excludes projects for medicinal or pharmaceutical crop or plant production, cultivated meat, equine systems, wild-caught fisheries, aquaculture such as algae or seaweed for human consumption, and fermentation systems involving bacteria, yeast or fungi for human consumption. Check the detailed scope before you invest time in a facilitator brief.

What to agree with a facilitator

The £2,500 is more useful when the expected work is defined before the application is submitted. Start by writing a short brief that describes the farm, growing or forestry business, the problem you want to address, the idea you want to test, and the likely Full ADOPT competition route. Ask the facilitator to confirm what they will deliver and how their experience relates to on-farm innovation funding.

Useful outputs can include a concise project summary, a scope check against the Full ADOPT requirements, a draft trial plan, a list of the information still needed from the business, and a structured response to the application questions. You can also ask for help identifying the people, equipment, facilities, permissions or partner input needed for the future trial. The facilitator should help you express the practical benefits of the idea for other farmers, growers or foresters, not simply polish general business language.

Agree who owns the underlying evidence and who is responsible for checking the final form. The applicant remains responsible for the accuracy and completeness of the submission. The facilitator can help with the process, but you must make sure the proposed work is genuinely feasible on your land or in your operation, that any animal-welfare issues are addressed, and that required permits or licences will be in place by the project start if they are needed.

Application steps

1. Confirm that the lead is an active, established commercial farming, growing or forestry business based in England and that it has a UK bank account.
2. Define the Full ADOPT idea in plain terms: the on-farm problem, the new or not yet widely used solution, the proposed test, and the benefit to other businesses.
3. Find an external Project Facilitator in the Innovate UK Business Connect database. Confirm the person’s name, relevant experience and availability.
4. Work with the facilitator to check the project against the ADOPT scope and prepare the application information.
5. Complete the three application sections: project details, application questions and finances.
6. Enter the facilitator’s name and the total £2,500 in the “other costs” section. The guidance also asks for facilitator information in the relevant application question.
7. Review every section for eligibility, scope, completeness and accuracy. Do not include website addresses or links in application answers, because the competition guidance says those URLs will not be viewed or opened.
8. Submit through the Innovation Funding Service by the Round 10 closing date of 19 August 2026. Keep a copy of the submitted application and any confirmation for your records.

The application form asks for the project title, start date and a three-month duration for the support-grant activity. It also asks for a summary of the intended Full ADOPT project and an explanation of how it fits the scope. The project-details section asks the applicant to identify the agricultural, horticultural or forestry area clearly so the application can be assigned to appropriate expertise.

Questions to prepare before opening the form

The form asks for the applicant’s location and business details, including the business name, registered address, county, County Parish Holding where relevant, and what the business grows or produces. It asks whether the future project involves animal testing, whether permits and licences will be in place, and whether there is any international collaboration or engagement. It also asks about export-control licensing and Trusted Research and Innovation considerations.

The scored part of the application focuses on the idea and its practical value. Be ready to explain the problem, where the idea came from, what you intend to trial, why it is better than the current approach, and how you will test it on-farm. A second part asks how the idea could improve productivity, resilience or sustainability and how it could be adopted by other farmers, growers or foresters. The facilitator question asks who will support the Full ADOPT application, what skills they bring, who else may be involved, and what resources or facilities the project may require.

Keep answers evidence-based. If the test depends on access to a particular field, holding, woodland, crop, herd, machine or processing facility, describe that dependency clearly and identify what still needs to be arranged. If the idea involves animals, permits, international collaborators or controlled technology, answer the relevant form questions directly rather than leaving the issue for the final project stage.

Money, payment and records

The award is £2,500 per successful participant. The competition information describes this as 100% funding for eligible project costs for an active farmer, grower or forester based in England. In the application finance section, enter the Project Facilitator’s name in “other costs” and enter the total cost of £2,500.

Payment is linked to delivery of the intended application. After a successful award, keep the Grant Offer Letter and the facilitator invoice. The claim requires the Full ADOPT Grant application number showing that the application has gone to assessment, together with the invoice for the full grant amount. The evidence and claim must be provided within three months of the Grant Offer Letter. Keep copies of the submitted Full ADOPT form, confirmation messages and facilitator records so that this requirement is easy to demonstrate.

The competition has a limited budget and is competitive. A complete application is not a promise of funding, and a high-quality proposal may still be affected by the available budget or portfolio decisions. Use the facilitator to improve fit, clarity and readiness, but do not assume that the support grant guarantees a later Full ADOPT award.

Final checklist

Before submitting, check that the lead applicant is the right English commercial farm, growing or forestry business; the facilitator is registered in the relevant Innovate UK Business Connect database; and the proposed Full ADOPT project is an eligible on-farm trial or experiment. Check that the finance section contains the facilitator’s name and £2,500, that the project activity has a three-month duration, and that all required questions are marked complete.

Make the project summary concrete. State what will be tested, where the test will happen, what current practice it addresses, and what other businesses could learn from it. Make sure the facilitator’s role is visible in the work plan and that the requested support is tied to developing and submitting the Full ADOPT application. Finally, submit through the official Innovation Funding Service before the 19 August 2026 deadline and retain the confirmation.

The current opportunity overview and links to the live competition information are available at farminginnovation.ukri.org/adopt.