Innovative agri-tech businesses can now bid for a share of £20 million to develop farm robots and automated systems, Farming Minister Stephen Morgan has announced.
The funding is intended to support collaboration between businesses, researchers and farmers on technology that can plant, tend and harvest crops. The government said the aim is to help farms at busy times of year, including periods when they struggle to find enough seasonal workers.
The new funding comes through the Farming Innovation Programme. It forms part of a recent £53 million boost and takes total funding available this year for farming research and technology to £123 million.
The government pointed to Fieldwork Robotics as one company already working in the area. The firm has developed a raspberry-picking robot and is using government funding to make it tougher and more reliable for commercial roll-out.
Mr Morgan said the funding would help put robots and technology into farmers' hands, with the aim of easing labour pressures while boosting yields and profits. Chris Danks, Head of Agrifood at Innovate UK, said robotics and automation are increasingly important tools for productivity and business resilience.
This round is also open to livestock applications. The government cited Roboscientific's DETECT project, which is developing breath-analysis technology designed to identify illness in dairy cows before it takes hold.
The competition is wider than the previous automation round in 2023. Applications can include ornamental plant propagation, growing and monitoring where the technology could also be used in food-producing horticulture, as well as forestry projects covering tree nursery and planting operations and woodland monitoring and management systems.