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Round 2 of the Farming Futures Automation and Robotics competition is the UK's largest dedicated agri-robotics funding call, offering up to 20,000,000 pounds for collaborative R&D on robotic and intelligent automated systems for farming, horticulture and forestry in England. It sits within Defra's Farming Innovation Programme and is delivered by Innovate UK.
The scope is broader than previous rounds: alongside core arable and horticultural crops it now covers farmed animals, fruit, orchards, vineyards, protected cropping, ornamental plant propagation and monitoring, and forestry operations.
Eligible technologies span robotic and intelligent automated machines, imaging and sensing systems for data collection, post-harvest automation carried out on farm, intelligent food storage systems, and on-farm energy management - a list that puts perception, machine learning and autonomous decision-making at the centre of what the fund will support, even though the competition title leads with robotics rather than AI.
The named target problems are productivity, reliance on labour, resource use efficiency, food quality and traceability, waste, crop and animal health, animal welfare and sustainability. Two points determine whether a strong technical idea is fundable here.
First, this is explicitly a collaborative competition: a minimum of two organisations must apply for funding, the lead must be a UK-registered business of any size, and no single organisation may take more than 70 per cent of eligible costs. Second, the exclusions are specific and catch applicants out - equine, wild fisheries, aquaculture, medicinal crops, food processing and forestry harvesting equipment are all out of scope.
The competition opened 3 August 2026 and closes 30 September 2026 at 11:00am UK time, with projects running 12 to 36 months, starting by 1 March 2027 and ending by 28 February 2030.
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Or search similar grants →According to the current listing, eligibility includes: The lead organisation must be a UK-registered business of any size and must collaborate with at least one other eligible UK organisation; a minimum of two organisations must apply for funding. Partners may include farmers, growers, foresters, academic institutions, charities, not-for-profits, public sector bodies and research organisations. No single organisation may account for more than 70 per cent of total eligible project costs. Grants are 500,000 to 2,500,000 pounds per project from a pot of up to 20,000,000 pounds. Funding rates are up to 70 per cent of eligible costs for micro and small organisations, up to 60 per cent for medium and up to 50 per cent for large, so the applicant must fund the remainder. Projects must run 12 to 36 months, start by 1 March 2027 and end by 28 February 2030. Scope covers robotic and intelligent automated machines, imaging and sensing for data collection, on-farm post-harvest automation, intelligent food storage and on-farm energy management, across farmed animals, broadacre crops, horticulture, fruit, orchards, vineyards, protected cropping and forestry operations. Explicitly ineligible: equine operations, wild fisheries, aquaculture, medicinal crops, food processing, and forestry harvesting equipment. The competition opened 3 August 2026 and closes 30 September 2026 at 11:00am UK time via the Innovation Funding Service. Projects with total costs above 1,000,000 pounds will be interviewed between 18 and 25 November 2026. Support is available at support@iuk.ukri.org or 0300 321 4357. Confirm the full requirements in the official notice before applying.
The current listing shows grants run from 500,000 pounds to 2,500,000 pounds per project against a total competition pot of up to 20,000,000 pounds - approximately 675,000 to 3,375,000 US dollars at 1.35 dollars to the pound, which is what amount_min and amount_max reflect. The grant is not the project budget: Innovate UK funds a percentage of eligible costs by organisation size, up to 70 per cent for micro and small organisations, up to 60 per cent for medium, and up to 50 per cent for large. A consortium led by a large business therefore needs roughly twice the grant value in total eligible costs and must fund the balance itself, which is the single most common reason applicants misjudge what they can afford to propose. A further structural constraint is that no single organisation may account for more than 70 per cent of total eligible costs, so a genuine partner with real budget is mandatory rather than cosmetic. Projects above 1,000,000 pounds in total cost go to interview, scheduled for 18 to 25 November 2026. Verify award ceilings, matching requirements, and allowable costs in the official notice.
Applications for Farming Futures R&D Fund Automation and Robotics Round 2 for Robotic, Sensing and Intelligent Automation Systems in UK Agriculture, Horticulture and Forestry are due September 30, 2026. Build your timeline backwards from this date to cover registrations, approvals, and final submission checks.
Farming Futures R&D Fund Automation and Robotics Round 2 for Robotic, Sensing and Intelligent Automation Systems in UK Agriculture, Horticulture and Forestry is funded by Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), delivered in partnership with Innovate UK (UK Research and Innovation). Verify program details on the funder's official page before applying.
Start from the official opportunity page linked in this listing — it carries the sponsor's submission instructions.
The FY2026 Department of Defense Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program supports basic research in science and engineering at U.S. institutions of higher education, with emphasis on multidisciplinary research where more than one traditional discipline interacts. The Army, Navy, and Air Force basic research offices are seeking applications across 22 topic areas including artificial intelligence and autonomy, information sensing and processing, and systems manipulation. MURI grants typically provide $1.25 million to $1.5 million per year for three years with option to extend two additional years. Approximately $170 million in total funding is available annually across all topics. The program is administered through the Office of Naval Research (ONR), Army Research Office (ARO), and Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR).
The NSF Convergence Accelerator is a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) that funds multidisciplinary teams working to solve national-scale societal challenges through convergence research and innovation. Launched in 2019 under NSF's Directorate for Technology, Innovation and Partnerships, the program operates in two phases: Phase 1 awards are up to $750,000, with successful teams advancing to larger Phase 2 awards. Eligible applicants include institutions of higher education and nonprofit or for-profit organizations. Track I and Track K focus on specific high-priority topics announced each funding cycle. The next deadline is June 15, 2026. Proposals must comply with updated NSF research security policies effective July 2025.
The NSF Computer and Information Science and Engineering: Future Computing Research (Future CoRe) program (NSF 25-543) supports foundational computing research and education with a strong emphasis on AI and machine learning. The program funds research that advances the foundations of computing including AI/ML theory, algorithms, systems, and applications. Future CoRe supports small to medium-sized research projects that can have significant impact on computing foundations. The program has target dates of February 5, 2026 and September 10, 2026 for proposal submissions (note: these are target dates, not deadlines, meaning proposals may be submitted at any time but will be reviewed in batches around these dates). Investigators may not serve as PI, co-PI, or Senior/Key Personnel on more than two proposals submitted within any consecutive 12-month period across all Future CoRe programs. This is one of NSF's primary mechanisms for funding fundamental AI and machine learning research at U.S. academic institutions, covering areas such as machine learning theory, natural language processing, computer vision, robotics foundations, and human-AI interaction.
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