Updated 31 October 2026
Grants and funding for farms and agricultural businesses
Schemes open today that name farms and agricultural businesses in their published criteria, or fund the kind of work farms and agricultural businesses do. Read from the funders' own pages and re-checked daily.
Farm funding in the UK is not one scheme but four systems. Agriculture is devolved, so a farm in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland is looking at a different set of schemes run by a different government, and most national lists quietly mean England only. The schemes below are filtered to the ones open today wherever you are.
Beyond the national schemes, a large share of farm funding is local: council rural enterprise funds, LEADER-style local action groups, catchment and river trusts, and levy bodies for particular crops and livestock. These are the ones that go unclaimed, because no single page lists them and each one publishes its own criteria on its own site. Those are read here alongside the national ones.
Grants are also not the only money available. Several of the schemes listed are loans, equity or in-kind support such as free advice and equipment, and the type is shown against each one so you are not reading a loan as a grant.
9 open today. Whether your business qualifies for any of them depends on your legal form, your size, your age and where you are, which is what the check does.
Which of these can you actually get?
Enter your company number. We read each funder’s own page against your business and tell you which fit, which do not, and why.
Check my businessWhat kind of funding these are
- Grants
- 6
- Equity investment
- 1
- In-kind and free support
- 1
- Mixed
- 1
A grant is money you keep. A tax relief lowers a bill rather than arriving as cash. In-kind support is training, credits or expert time instead of money. Loans and equity have to be paid back or bought back, and are worth treating as a different decision entirely.
Who can apply
Every one of these has published criteria. Across the 9, the conditions that come up most are that you must:
- work in a named sector7 of 9
- be under a headcount limit5 of 9
- be at a particular stage2 of 9
- be a particular kind of organisation1 of 9
- be spending within a range1 of 9
Which of them you meet depends on your legal form, size, age and where you are registered. That is what the check reads for you, scheme by scheme, and it quotes the funder’s own sentence beside each answer.
What the money is for
- Business growth 4
- Farming and agriculture 3
- Equipment 3
- Consultancy and professional support 3
- Research and development 2
- Machinery 2
- Innovation and new products 2
- Marketing 2
How to apply
You apply to the funder, never to us. Every scheme above links straight to its own page, and that page is the only thing that decides whether you get it.
Before you spend an afternoon on a form, three things are worth checking: that you are inside the deadline; that you have not already started or paid for the work, which a great many grants refuse; and that you can fund the share they expect you to.
Most refusals are not close calls. They are a rule the applicant never saw, in a sentence on the funder’s own page.
Where else to look
The government publishes its own list, free, and you should use it. What is above is wider than that list, because it also holds council schemes, tax reliefs and in-kind support that Find a Grant does not carry — but if you only want a list, start there.
Find a grant, on GOV.UKThe 9 open today
Mixed
Invest to Grow Programme
University of Derby
Up to£250,000
A revolving loan and grant fund run by the University of Derby that supports private-sector businesses in the East Midlands to innovate, expand and create or safeguard jobs. Support is a blend of loan and grant up to £250,000, recycled from repayments on previous awards, and is aimed at manufacturing, engineering, life sciences, construction, logistics and creative/digital businesses.
RollingThe funder’s page
Grant
Innovation Boost
InterTradeIreland
Up to£56,000
Innovation Boost is a grant from InterTradeIreland that pays for academic expertise and a project manager to help manufacturing and tradable services SMEs on the island of Ireland run new product/service or process-improvement projects. It covers 100% of academic partner costs and 50% of a dedicated project manager's cost, up to £56,000 over 18 months or £39,000 over 12 months.
RollingThe funder’s page
Grant
Woodland Creation Planning Grant (WCPG)
Forestry Commission
Up to£30,500
A two-stage grant that pays landowners, land managers and public bodies (other than Forestry England) to prepare a woodland creation design plan in England. Stage 1 pays a fixed £1,500 for a desk-based feasibility study; if the site has potential, Stage 2 pays a per-hectare rate to produce a full UK Forestry Standard-compliant design, with supplementary payments available for specialist surveys. Total funding per project is capped at £30,500.
RollingThe funder’s page
Grant
AD:VENTURE Growth Grant
West Yorkshire Combined Authority
Up to£5,000
AD:VENTURE's Growth Grant offers West Yorkshire SMEs £1,500 to £5,000, covering up to 50% of eligible capital project costs, for growth investment such as equipment and IT. It is paid in arrears after the applicant has joined the AD:VENTURE programme and worked with a Business Manager on a diagnostic and action plan.
RollingThe funder’s page
Grant
Enterprising Worcestershire Grant
Worcestershire County Council
Up to£5,000
Worcestershire County Council offers the Enterprising Worcestershire Grant, a match-funded grant of £1,000 to £5,000 for start-up SMEs, or businesses trading for 3 years or less, in the districts of Bromsgrove, Redditch, Worcester City and Wyre Forest. It funds items such as machinery, equipment, website construction, marketing materials and consultancy support.
RollingThe funder’s page
Grant
Poultry Biosecurity Review funding
Rural Payments Agency (Defra)
Up to£1,290
Funding for poultry keepers in England to have a vet carry out a biosecurity review of their site. Businesses can claim £430 per review, for up to three reviews per site, after the vet completes an assessment and summary sheet.
Closes 30 September 2028The funder’s page
In-kind support
Fit To Bid
Department for Business and Trade
A fully-funded programme of workshops and 1:1 advice delivered by Brandiun Business Support Ltd to help small and medium-sized London businesses win contracts with Tier 1 suppliers, including a bid capability assessment and tendering guidance.
RollingThe funder’s page
Grant
Tree health pilot scheme
Forestry Commission and Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs
The tree health pilot scheme offers grants in England to help manage and slow the spread of specific tree pests and diseases. Separate grants cover larch, spruce and sweet chestnut affected by named pests or diseases, ash affected by ash dieback, oak affected by oak processionary moth (a local authority grant), restocking after felling, and a tree health advice package. Detailed eligibility, payment rates and application steps sit in linked guidance documents rather than on this page.
RollingThe funder’s page
Equity
Venture Capital Schemes (EIS, SEIS, VCT) — raise investment for your company
HM Revenue & Customs
Venture capital schemes let small and medium UK companies raise equity investment by offering their investors tax reliefs. The Enterprise Investment Scheme, Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme, and Venture Capital Trusts each set different limits on how much a company can raise and different eligibility conditions on company size, age and trade.
RollingThe funder’s page