Farming Transformation Fund -Improving Farm Productivity Grant Summary

The Farming Transformation Fund Improving Farm Productivity theme is designed to support investment that improves farm and horticulture productivity through use of robotic or autonomous equipment and the installation of slurry acidification equipment. The fund provides up to 40% grant support for eligible costs, with a minimum grant size of £35,000 and the maximum of £500,000. The minimum total project cost is £87,500 and the maximum is £1.25 million. Eligible expenditure includes robotic harvesting, weeding and spraying equipment, autonomous driverless tractors as well as other autonomous robotic technology. The Improving Farm Productivity grant will be followed by the Adding Value theme.

The application process includes an initial online check to assess how well the project meets the funding priorities. The initial application will be assessed and projects that align with the funding priorities will be invited to submit a full application. Applications are competitive and will be scored on how well they meet the productivity, environmental and innovation objectives of the fund. If you would like to discuss the Farming Transformation Fund further, do contact a member of the Team.

Examples of eligible expenditure includes:

• Robotic harvest equipment with cameras or tactile sensors with the ability to undertake harvest of the crop without human intervention
• Robotic weeding equipment with the ability to identify and treat individual weeds
• Robotic spraying equipment with the ability to identify and treat individual plants, accurately placing chemical on individual plants leaving the remainder of the crop