Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how funding from the farming innovation programme will be allocated among different agri-technology research and development projects.

Applicants to the Farming Innovation Programme are assessed by the Programme’s delivery partner, Innovate UK, on how they address a particular challenge identified by industry (for industry-led partnership competitions) or by Defra (for thematic competitions) following submission of their application. We seek a balanced portfolio approach, which means that funding can be allocated in a way to benefit all farming sectors, while projects are assessed on their individual merit.