£30m fund opens to support farmer collaboration

Farmers in England could gain greater access to peer support, specialist advice and joint projects through a new £30m government collaboration fund.

Applications have opened for the first round of Defra’s Farmer Collaboration Fund (FCF), although individual farmers, growers and land managers cannot apply directly.

See also: Defra launches latest £13m farming innovation round

Instead, funding will go to organisations that can establish and support groups of farmers working together on business, environmental and land management challenges.

Successful delivery partners can receive between £200,000 and £1m a year for up to three years, with £5m available annually, and about 20 grants expected.

Individual organisations must support at least five collaboration groups, with each group comprising a minimum of four separately managed farming businesses.

Funding can be used to provide facilitators, discussion groups, farm walks, workshops, specialist advice and training.

Defra said the three-year funding period reflected feedback from farmers and was intended to give groups enough time to develop projects responding to local needs.

Practical projects

Collaboration could include farmers sharing machinery to cut costs, exchanging farm data, adopting technology to improve animal health and welfare, or working together on integrated pest management.

Groups could also explore agroforestry, business diversification and succession planning, or develop landscape-scale projects and applications for schemes such as Landscape Recovery.

Eligible delivery partners include charities, community interest companies, local authorities, national park and National Landscape organisations, commercial businesses, co-operatives and universities.

Applicants will need experience of facilitating collaboration and knowledge of the farming sectors, geographical areas or subjects they intend to support.

Once delivery partners have been appointed, farmers will be able to approach them directly to join participating groups.

Defra plans three application rounds, with further rounds expected in 2027 and 2028. The current round closes on 30 September and successful applicants notified in November.

First payments are expected in December 2026.

A webinar explaining the application process, and including a live question-and-answer session, will be held on 9 September, starting at 2.30pm.