Dates:
Competition opens: 5 May 2025
Competition online briefing: 8 May 2025
Competition closes: 25 June 2025, 11:00 am
Interviews: Invitation on 11 August 2025; Panels 15 – 26 September 2025
Applicants notified: 10 October 2025
Project start/end date: Start by 1 January 2026 (always 1st of the month); end by 31 December 2028
Project duration: Up to 36 months
Scope & Specific Themes
Funding collaborative industrial research projects to unlock the benefits of precision breeding, delivering ambitious solutions leading to more sustainable and productive farming practices, specifically focusing on: horticultural crops and arable crops.
Projects should aim for improvements such as:
- Increased crop yield (quality and quantity)
- Increased resilience to pests, diseases, pathogens, and climate change
- Enhanced photosynthesis or reduced crop growth cycles
- Improved crop harvesting, storage characteristics, nutritional value (biofortification), palatability, visual appeal, and shelf life
- Reduced allergens and toxins
Projects that will not be funded
- Techniques outside the Genetic Technology Act 2023
- Projects duplicated elsewhere (e.g., Crop Genetic Improvement Platform or other UK-funded bodies)
- Projects related to animals, forestry, medicinal or pharmaceutical use, circular economy, energy production, or not benefiting English farmers
- Previously submitted or failed projects (unexploited, non-compliant, overdue reports)
Eligibility
- Project costs: £1 million – £2.5 million
- Must comply with Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Act 2023
- Lead: UK registered business of any size, collaborating with at least one other UK organisation (business, academic, charity, RTO, public sector, not-for-profit)
- Non-funded partners: allowed (incl. EU and overseas); own costs must be covered
- Subcontractors: UK-based preferred; overseas subcontractors only with strong justification
- Businesses may lead only one application, but can collaborate in two additional applications
Funding Rates
Total eligible project costs (£12.5 million pot):
| Organisation Size/Type | Funding rate |
| Micro/small organisation | <70% |
| Medium organisation | <60% |
| Large organisation | <50% |
Up to 100% of eligible costs for RTOs, charity, not for profit, public sector, or research organisation. 80% of full
economic costs (FEC) covered for Je-S registered institutions (such as an academic).
How PNO can support you
The UK team has a strong track record in securing some of the most competitive national and European grants on behalf of its clients, with a full understanding of how a project should be presented to stand the highest chance of success. Each year in the UK alone, we are responsible for the submission of more than 100 funding applications across all sectors and priority areas. Based on this extensive experience, through careful project selection and using key insight into how a project should be best positioned, we consistently achieve success rates that are more than 5 times the typical success rates for UK national schemes and EU programmes.
For further information or to discuss a project idea please contact PNO Consultants
0161 488 3488 | info.uk@pnoconsultants.com | https://www.pnoconsultants.com/uk/
