Farmer Collaboration Fund 2026–2027: £200,000–£1 Million a Year for England Delivery Partners

Farmer Collaboration Fund 2026–2027: £200,000–£1 Million a Year for England Delivery Partners

The Farmer Collaboration Fund (FCF) is a new Defra grant opportunity for organisations in England that can help farmers, land managers and growers work together. The fund is aimed at the organisation that will act as a delivery partner, rather than at an individual farmer seeking money for a single farm activity. A successful delivery partner will help create, restart or strengthen farmer collaboration groups, appoint and manage facilitators, support peer learning, and connect groups with larger land-management and private funding opportunities.

Defra’s applicant guide says round 1 opens at midday on 1 September 2026 and closes at 11:59pm on 30 September 2026. Agreements will last three years and range from £200,000 to £1 million per year. Around 20 grants are expected, with about £5 million available annually. Defra expects a second round in 2027 and a third in 2028, but the currently published application window is the 2026 round.

This is a substantial opportunity for a capable charity, community interest company, local authority, national landscape organisation, park body, or commercial business that already has relationships with farmers and can run a credible facilitation programme. It is not a capital grant for farm machinery, direct land works, or technology purchases. The strongest applicants will make a clear case for why their organisation is trusted to coordinate groups, what business and environmental outcomes the groups will pursue, and how the work will add value without paying twice for the same activity.

Key details

What the fund is designed to support

The FCF is built around collaboration rather than a single prescribed farming technique. Defra wants delivery partners to help groups share experience, learn from one another, and test new working practices. The groups can work locally, across a farming sector, or around a particular subject or area of expertise. The applicant guide gives integrated pest management and integrating trees into farming systems as examples of the kinds of practice that peer learning might help farmers adopt.

The intended benefits are both commercial and environmental. A group might help members reduce input costs, improve soil and water health, diversify income, address flood risk, coordinate activity across a landscape, or prepare a stronger application for a larger government or private land-management scheme. The grant itself is not intended to pay for every resulting farm action. Its role is to pay for the coordination, advice, meetings, facilitation and organisational capacity that make collective action possible.

The structure also gives the opportunity a useful route for organisations that have good local relationships but need stable multi-year funding to coordinate them. Defra expects the delivery partner to identify priorities with farmers, appoint facilitators, maintain records, report spending and outcomes, and demonstrate fair and transparent decision-making. The delivery partner may work with other organisations, but one lead organisation must take responsibility for the application, award and proper use of funds.

Who can apply and who cannot

The applicant must be an organisation based in England. The guide names charities and Community Interest Companies, local authorities, strategic authorities, national landscapes and national parks organisations, and commercial businesses including limited companies. A commercial organisation or CIC must be active at Companies House with an up-to-date filing history. A charity must be registered with the Charity Commission and have up-to-date accounts and annual returns.

The lead applicant must be a single entity with day-to-day control and management of its activities and a UK bank account. Partnerships are welcome, but only one organisation can apply as lead. Defra will ask applicants to describe partnerships during the application process, although the current guide says it will not require formal evidence of partnership status at that stage.

An individual farmer, land manager, grower or group facilitator cannot apply directly for the FCF. Those people may benefit from a delivery partner’s work, and farmers or land managers can approach successful delivery partners if they want to join a group, but they are not the eligible applicant for this grant.

The delivery model must support at least five farming collaboration groups. Each group should include at least four farms managed by different people. This requirement matters for fit: an organisation with a good idea for one farm, one estate, or one adviser-led service is not automatically an FCF applicant. The proposal needs a portfolio of groups and a credible way to recruit, support and learn from them.

What the grant can pay for

Defra expects most of the funding to go toward facilitators and group collaboration. Eligible facilitator costs can include time and salaries where they represent good value, one-to-one or group engagement, coordination, community engagement, organising specialists, securing additional funding, training and reasonable expenses for group activity and travel. The guide specifically suggests checking comparable salaries against Office for National Statistics information and explaining deviations.

The grant can also support peer-to-peer learning events, venues, promotion, expert advice, group travel such as a minibus visit to a farm, delivery-partner coordination, farmer or expert panels, networks, knowledge exchange, and facilitator training. A collaboration group can receive up to £1,500 per FCF agreement for advice on its legal structure. One-to-one advice is possible where it supports a group’s aims or recruitment, but advice to an individual farmer should be tied to a specific need and group objective.

Administration is allowed, but administration costs must be less than 10% of the total budget. The applicant should therefore build a realistic management budget without treating the fund as unrestricted organisational support. Quarterly payments will be made in advance of spending after the agreement is signed, followed by reporting and reconciliation against actual spend.

Costs and activities the fund excludes

The FCF cannot pay for direct farm actions or capital works, farm equipment or technology, alcohol, plane travel, individual farmer funding-application support, or IT costs for managing groups and activities. It also cannot pay for meeting legal requirements, planning conditions, surveys or monitoring activities, or advice that does not advance the group’s objectives.

These exclusions should shape the proposal from the beginning. If a group wants to improve water quality, the FCF could potentially support the people, meetings, facilitation and expert learning needed to coordinate the work. It should not be presented as the budget for construction, farm equipment or direct implementation. Likewise, the proposal should distinguish the cost of a learning event from the cost of the farm intervention discussed at that event.

Double funding is another central control. An organisation can receive funding from other sources, but it must not charge the FCF for activity paid for by another source, including another Defra scheme. Applicants must disclose other funding for collaboration activity and report new overlapping support that begins during the agreement. Groups funded through the Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund may need to finish their existing agreements before receiving FCF support; the guide warns not to end an existing agreement before knowing whether the FCF delivery partner application succeeds.

How to prepare before the window opens

Start by choosing a focused operating area: a geography, farming sector, or area of interest where the organisation has genuine knowledge and relationships. The guide asks applicants to contact existing collaboration groups, discuss partnerships, and decide who should be the lead partner. Those conversations are more valuable than assembling a generic list of possible partners at the last minute.

Build a group portfolio that is specific enough to plan but honest about what is not yet confirmed. For every proposed group, record its name or working description, whether it is new or existing, the likely facilitator, an estimated number of farmers, and the year it would start. Defra says these are likely questions. An estimate is allowed, but it should have a recruitment explanation behind it.

Prepare three connected planning documents. First, write a delivery plan for the first year. Second, create a six-month milestone plan. Third, draw a three-year road map showing how the programme is expected to develop. These documents should agree on group numbers, staffing, activities, milestones and budget. A reviewer should not have to reconcile different totals across sections.

Gather evidence of organisational fit: prior farmer engagement, facilitation experience, peer-learning results, relevant partnerships, financial controls, governance arrangements and a practical way to manage conflicts of interest, bias and fraud risks. Evidence can include named programmes, numbers of participants, repeat engagement, documented outcomes, testimonials or reports, provided it is accurate and can be checked.

Application process and assessment

Applications can only be made through the Find a Grant service. Applicants should use the Browse tab, search for “Farmer Collaboration Fund”, and then complete the form on the Atamis platform. The published guide is a preparation document and Defra says it may make changes before the fund opens, so applicants should read the live form and any agreement-holder guidance when the application becomes available.

The form has four main sections. The first checks delivery-partner details and eligibility and is not scored, but the applicant must pass it. The second asks why the organisation is right to deliver the fund and carries 35% weighting, with a maximum response length of 800 words. The third covers objectives, alignment with Defra priorities, intended change and measurement and carries 30%, also with an 800-word maximum. The fourth covers delivery actions and management: each part carries 17.5%, with maximum response lengths of 400 words.

Defra will assess after the application window closes. Qualification questions are pass or fail. A panel then assesses the initial delivery response, and the applicant needs a score of 70 to progress to full assessment. At full assessment, each question must score at least 50; a lower score on any question prevents progression. Assessors also consider value for money, and a moderation panel agrees the final outcome. Defra expects to notify applicants by email in early November.

What a strong proposal should prove

The proposal should show a chain from farmer need to funded activity to measurable change. Begin with a documented problem: for example, groups lack a facilitator, a priority is not being addressed, or an existing network needs additional capacity to achieve more. Then show why collaboration is the right response and why this organisation can convene it.

Make both business and environmental objectives visible, and include social value where relevant. Defra’s likely questions specifically ask for business objectives, environmental objectives and social value such as wellbeing or social connections. Avoid claiming that every group will solve every issue. A smaller set of clear outcomes is easier to staff, cost and assess.

Use a group-by-group delivery model. Name the intended group, describe its members and need, identify the facilitator, set a starting year, and explain the activities that will move it toward the objective. Then show how the delivery partner will compare learning between groups, share knowledge with Defra and other partners, and decide when a group needs specialist advice or additional funding.

Value for money should be more than a low headline cost. Explain the staffing model, facilitator workload, group size, event frequency, travel assumptions, specialist fees, administration percentage and expected reach. Include the approximately £5,000 end-of-agreement audit cost identified in the guide. A three-year budget should also explain what happens after FCF support ends, including possible larger-scale funding or other finance.

Common mistakes to avoid

The most serious mistake is applying as the wrong type of applicant. A farmer, facilitator or informal group cannot submit alone. Select one eligible organisation as lead and make every partnership role clear.

Another mistake is describing a capital project instead of a collaboration programme. Machinery, technology, direct farm works and legal-compliance costs are not eligible. Keep the FCF budget focused on people, relationships, group activity, advice, governance and coordination.

Do not promise outcomes without a route to measurement. Although surveys and monitoring activities are excluded costs, the application still needs to explain how the project will check whether change occurred. Separate the cost of collecting farmer opinions through the required monitoring and evaluation arrangements from ineligible project monitoring activity, and confirm the live guidance before finalising the budget.

Avoid vague partnership language. “We will work with stakeholders” is weaker than naming the organisations, their role, the farmers they reach and the decision process. Also avoid counting the same facilitator time, group event or advisory service against two funding sources. The lead delivery partner is responsible for preventing double funding.

Finally, do not leave the three-year ending plan until the last paragraph. Defra specifically asks how the activity will be managed after the agreement ends. A credible continuation route can include larger land-management funds, private finance, member contributions, or a handover to an established group, but it should be presented as a plan to investigate and develop rather than guaranteed income.

Frequently asked questions

Can individual farmers apply?

No. Individual farmers, land managers, growers and group facilitators cannot apply directly. They can participate in collaboration groups supported by a successful delivery partner.

Can a commercial company apply?

Yes. The guide includes commercial businesses, including limited companies, among eligible organisation types. The organisation must be based in England, active and up to date at Companies House, have a UK bank account, and meet the other delivery-partner requirements.

Does the fund pay for farm equipment or capital works?

No. Direct farm actions, capital works, farm equipment and technology are listed as excluded costs. The grant supports the collaboration infrastructure around farmer-led activity.

How many groups must the applicant support?

The applicant must plan to support at least five farming collaboration groups. Each group should include at least four farms managed by different people.

Is the grant paid all at once?

No. Defra says payments will be made quarterly in advance of spending after the agreement is signed. The delivery partner must report actual spend, and Defra will reconcile discrepancies.

When will the next round open?

Defra expects round 2 in 2027 and round 3 in 2028. Those future rounds are not a substitute for the published round 1 deadline, and their exact dates and requirements should be checked when announced.

Official links and next steps

Read the official Farmer Collaboration Fund applicant’s guide, which is the controlling source for the current eligibility rules, eligible costs, questions and assessment process. Defra’s Farmer Collaboration Fund publication page provides the programme context. When the window opens, use the Find a Grant service and search for “Farmer Collaboration Fund” to reach the live application route.

Before 1 September, confirm the lead organisation, map the five or more intended groups, contact farmers and partners, prepare the first-year delivery plan, draft the six-month milestones and three-year road map, and reconcile the budget with the exclusions. On or after opening day, recheck the live guidance for any changes Defra makes after user feedback. Submit through Atamis before 11:59pm on 30 September 2026, allowing time for internal approval, financial review and final eligibility checks.