P2110377: AHDB/BBSRC Initiative: Enabling the agricultural transition to net-zero through BBSRC’s Farm Sustainability Fund - Questions and Answers

Q: Can I check if each of the 10 projects will be of max value of 50K?

A: Yes – 10 projects up to £50k each, total funding equalling £500k.

Q: Section 4.1.1 asks for ‘What is the organisation’s contribution to the project?’ – Can you confirm if we should list the estate and indirects here as overheads are not an eligible costs or if this section should be used for other in-kind institute contributions?

A: It's not always obvious what all the partners in a project bring to the table, section 4.1.1 should describe what aspect of project will be completed by the organisation i.e. a trial, lab experiment, statistical analysis, etc. Guidance notes can be found here for completing the application, for 4.1.1 the guidance is:

4.1.1 What is the organisation’s contribution to the project: Provide details of what the organisation will be providing to the project for example trial sites, equipment, statistical expertise etc.

Q: I am working with colleagues to develop an application to this funding call. I wonder if you could let me know if we are on the right track? We are looking at using the funding to run a series of workshops supplemented by other information gathering activities, to transfer knowledge on regenerative agriculture (experiences on our own commercial farms, discussion of recently acquired equipment, results from mob grazing trials) and at the same time, to gather intelligence on farmer experiences implementing regen ag in the north of England. We recognise that these methods pose particular problems in northern regions of the UK due to climate and soil limitations. The outcome of the work would be a report outlining the specific challenges identified by researchers and practitioners in our region and laying the groundwork for a larger funding application addressing these challenges. Does this sort of project fall within the scope of what you are looking for with this call?

A: No guarantees can be made but the work proposed could be within the scope of the call under improving the sustainability of cropping systems and/or the performance of grassland. As the work will be funded by BBSRC the proposal should focus on the biological aspects of regenerative agriculture.

Q: I have an idea that we would test some transgenic wheat lines that have created with high levels of brassinosteroids for their ability to reduce susceptibility to various UK plant diseases, Septoria, brown and yellow rust and fusarium head blight. Would this be in the scope of the call or are you envisioning something else? It is a very short window to complete the work so will be very hard to do real field level experiments.

A: Although no guarantees can be made the work proposed would be in scope and could be funded under the objective to improve ‘Sustainable management strategies for pests, weeds and diseases’

Q: Please could you clarify whether an outline proposal is needed or we just use the “AHDB Research and KE Application Form - Full Proposal Small”. The guidance document talks about a two-stage process but it’s unclear if this is required.

A: The application process for this call is one stage, applicants only need to complete the ‘Full Proposal Small’