Round 5 of the Feasibility Studies Competition now open\n\nRound 5 of the Feasibility Studies competition is now open for applications.\n\nThe £15 million competition is part of the Farming Innovation Programme, delivered in partnership with Innovate UK.\n\nIt offers grant funding for feasibility studies investigating new solutions that will address major on-farm or immediate post farmgate challenges or opportunities.\n\nWe are looking for projects that can improve productivity, strengthen resilience and support more sustainable, lower-emission farming.\n\nApplicants must show how their project will benefit farmers, growers or foresters in England.\n\nIf you're part of a business, research organisation or farming group with an idea that could benefit the sector, this round could help you test it.\n\n## Overview\n\nSome ideas need testing before they can become products, services or approaches that farmers can use with confidence.\n\nFeasibility Studies projects provide time and funding to explore whether a new product, service or approach could work in real farming, growing or forestry conditions.\n\nThey also help assess whether an idea has the technical and commercial potential to be developed further.\n\nWe are looking for innovative ideas that could improve productivity, reduce environmental impact, strengthen resilience, or help solve challenges faced by farmers, growers and foresters in England.\n\n## Apply now\n\n- Competition opens: Today, Wednesday 15 July 2026\n- Competition closes: Wednesday 9 September 2026 11:00am\n\nYou can read the guidance and apply through the Innovation Funding Service.\n\nThe competition page sets out the full scope and eligibility criteria, while the guidance explains what your project must include, how applications will be assessed, and the information you will need to provide.\n\nProjects must have total costs between £200,000 and £500,000 and can run for up to 2 years.\n\nA UK-registered business must lead the project and work with at least one other business or research organisation.\n\nFarmers, growers and foresters should be involved throughout the project to help ensure the idea is practical and meets the needs of potential users. This could include testing the idea on-farm, joining a project board, or providing feedback during development.\n\nInnovate UK Business Connect can help you find potential partners.\n\n## Project spotlights\n\nFeasibility Studies funding has helped test ideas across livestock, horticulture, crops and farm management.\n\nBelow are some examples of projects we have supported, including new projects from Round 4, which started this month.\n\n### Real-time pest monitoring for better crop protection\n\nBean seed flies can affect a range of crops, including field beans, peas, cereals and vegetable brassicas. Damage often appears as uneven crop establishment, caused by larvae feeding on seeds and young shoots. Credit: University of Warwick.\n\nPE Simmons & Son, together with the University of Warwick, B-HIVE Innovations, Farmacy and P.G. Rix (Farms), is leading a feasibility project awarded £330,058 to explore new ways of managing bean seed fly (BSF) and swede midge (SM).\n\nThese pests can cause significant damage to brassica and onion crops. Existing control measures can be challenging to use effectively, with BSF pesticides requiring specific approvals and SM pesticides needing to be applied at precisely the right stage of the pest lifecycle.\n\nCurrent monitoring methods, such as pheromone traps, can make it difficult to identify the optimum time for intervention. TRACER-Pest will trial AI-powered cameras attached to traps to provide real-time monitoring of BSF and SM populations. The technology aims to help growers make more timely and targeted pest management decisions.\n\nFindings from the two-year project will be shared with growers and agronomists across the sector.\n\n### Using AI to detect apple canker before symptoms appear\n\nCredit: Sarah Stewart\n\nARMOR (Automated Recognition and Mapping of Apple Canker to Improve Orchard Productivity, Resilience and Sustainability) is a £394,813 project led by Fyto. It is developing a practical tool to help growers detect and manage apple canker before symptoms appear.\n\nApple canker is a disease caused by a fungal pathogen, Neonectria ditissima. The disease causes canker lesions that reduce productivity and fruit quality in established trees and may girdle, and ultimately kill, young trees.\n\nUsing advanced imaging and artificial intelligence (AI), the system will identify infected areas and create detailed disease maps, enabling more targeted interventions to reduce disease spread and fruit loss.\n\nDesigned to work with existing orchard machinery, the technology will give growers a fast and practical way to monitor orchards at scale.\n\nIf successful, it will be the first tool of its kind for the UK top-fruit sector, helping to improve disease management while boosting the productivity, sustainability and resilience of orchard businesses.\n\n### Developing a rapid on-farm test for bovine mastitis\n\nCredit: Sarah Stewart\n\nThis project, led by RapidX Bio and awarded £349,288, is developing a portable diagnostic tool to help farmers and vets tackle bovine mastitis.\n\nMastitis is one of the most costly diseases affecting the dairy industry, leading to reduced milk yields, higher veterinary costs, and the loss of affected animals.\n\nCurrent diagnostic methods can take several days to provide results and often do not identify antimicrobial resistance, making it harder to select the most effective treatment.\n\nPlasmonic polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technology is a laboratory technique used to detect and identify disease-causing bacteria, viruses, and other pathogens from their genetic material.\n\nUsing this technique, the project aims to develop a highly accurate pen-side test that can detect both mastitis-causing pathogens and their antimicrobial resistance profiles directly from unprocessed milk samples. The technology has the potential to provide near real-time results, enabling faster diagnosis and more targeted interventions.\n\nAs part of the feasibility study, the team is comparing the technology with existing commercial PCR methods and developing a portable prototype suitable for use on farms.\n\nIf successful, the tool could transform mastitis management by supporting more precise antibiotic use, improving animal welfare, reducing production losses and improving the sustainability and resilience of dairy businesses.\n\n## Learn more\n\nThe Farming Innovation Programme, delivered in partnership with Innovate UK, supports new ideas that can help farmers, growers and foresters in England tackle practical challenges. Visit their site to learn more about funding opportunities and case studies.\n\nYou can stay up to date with the latest from the Farming and Countryside team by subscribing to the Farming Blog.