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Funding for food, agriculture and the bioeconomy

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Companies across food, agriculture and the bioeconomy face a distinctive set of demands. Emissions, water, soil and biodiversity sit alongside food security, and both require changes to plant and process. Many projects qualify, from alternative proteins to circular processes, with funding along the whole value chain.

3D Spark
Heineken
UltiMaker
2R
Coolblue
ABN AMRO
Folienwelt
KPN
qlero
Vattenfall
PostNL
mm lab
ProRail
NS
Deutsche Firmenkredit Partner
Jumbo
ANWB
ENTIAC
Bynder
selecta one
Universiteit Utrecht
Nedap
DC Smarter
VDL
Gasunie
ZWF
Fugro
Unit4
Unternehmensgruppe Albert Weil
Zeeman
Basic-Fit
fierythings

The pressures shaping your business

Four developments drive investment in this sector, across Europe alike.

Sustainable and resilient food systems. Emissions, water, soil and resource requirements meet food security and price stability, changing how food is produced and processed.

Protein and product transition. Alternative proteins and novel foods are moving from niche to mainstream, which needs real development and scale-up.

Bioeconomy and circularity. Turning biomass, by-products and residual streams into materials, chemicals and energy is a growing field with dedicated funding.

Precision and digitalisation. Sensing, data, robotics and AI are changing cultivation and processing, and must scale economically.

Sustainable production processes

Re-engineering food and agricultural processes to cut emissions, water, energy and waste where the outcome still has to be developed and proven.

Alternative proteins and novel foods

Developing and scaling plant-based, fermentation-based and other novel foods, including the technical challenges of taste, texture and production.

Bio-based materials and valorisation

Turning biomass, by-products and residues into materials, chemicals and energy, and the processes that make it viable at scale.

Precision and digital agriculture

Sensing, data platforms, robotics and precision techniques that improve yield, resource use or resilience.

Food safety, quality and traceability

Digital systems, analytical methods or process innovation that improve quality, transparency, hygiene, shelf life or traceability along the value chain.

Plant and equipment

Investment in technology that enables the shift to resource-efficient production.

The programmes behind it

  • Horizon Europe: for collaborative research and development, usually in multi-country consortia.
  • EIC Accelerator: for highly innovative companies with breakthrough technology and international market potential.
  • Common Agricultural Policy funds: rural development money reaches companies through national and regional schemes, so the route differs by market even though the source is European.

  • Forschungszulage and ZIM: for the development side, where the technical outcome is not yet established.
  • GRW: investment grants for plant and sites, provided the location sits within a designated assisted area.
  • KfW and EEW: subsidised loans and grants for investment, and federal support for energy and resource efficiency in production.
  • ELER: the German route for European rural development funding, structured differently by federal state.

  • WBSO: for the development side, reducing payroll tax for staff working on research and development.
  • MIT R&D: for collaborative development projects between SMEs, opened regionally with differing windows and themes.
  • GLB schemes: the Dutch route for European agricultural policy funding, covering sustainable and nature-inclusive farming among other areas.
  • EIA and MIA/Vamil: tax-based schemes for investment in energy-efficient or environmentally friendly assets, which can cover processing and production equipment.

What to watch in this sector

In food, agriculture and the bioeconomy, funding chances depend heavily on timing, evidence and the correct classification of the project. Three points are particularly critical.

01

Application windows and production cycles

Many programmes follow fixed application windows, cut-off dates or seasonal cultivation and production cycles. Checking investments, field trials, pilot production or conversions only after they have started can mean missing important windows.

02

Evidence on areas, volumes and material flows

Funding programmes in this sector frequently require robust figures on areas, yields, raw material volumes, residues, water or energy consumption. In bioeconomy and circular projects in particular, material flows have to be described and quantified plausibly.

03

Wrong classification between development and investment

A new food product, a processing method or a digital agricultural solution can contain both development and investment elements. If these are not separated cleanly, problems arise with costs, deadlines and evidence. It is therefore decisive to establish early what is R&D, what is investment and which effect has to be demonstrated.

What this means for your funding

that means a project can have several possible entry points. A new process can be relevant as a development project where technical uncertainty exists, or as an investment in resource-efficient production where known technology is introduced, extended or scaled.

what is development, what is investment, what is environmental or climate impact? Only from that does it follow which instrument fits and how costs, deadlines and evidence are correctly delimited.

How we work

We do not start with the application but with the question of which parts of your work qualify and which level they belong to. Our specialists know the programmes and the evaluation practice in this sector.

STEP 1

Review the roadmap.

We go through your plans and separate what qualifies from what does not.

STEP 2

Match the programmes.

We map the qualifying work to instruments at regional, national and European level.

STEP 3

Build the application.

We write against the actual evaluation criteria rather than the project description.

STEP 4

Protect what is awarded.

We keep documentation audit-ready throughout the funded period.

The people behind your application

Dr. Hans GeorgBreunig

Senior Consultant

Dr. Hans Georg Breunig Connect on LinkedIn

Numbers you can hold us to

0.5Billion

funding realized in 2025

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Resources & Insights

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FAQs about funding advisory

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Our focus is on innovation, investment and transformation projects along the agricultural and food value chain, for example new processes, processing technologies, bioeconomy, digitalisation, energy efficiency or sustainable production systems.

Area-based agricultural support is generally not our main service. Where it is relevant in connection with a larger innovation or investment project, we are happy to check how it fits into the overall funding strategy.

Where the outcome is still technically open and the process first has to be developed, tested or adapted, a development element can exist. Where a proven plant is simply procured or a known process introduced, investment support is the more likely route. What decides it is the delimitation between development work and implementation.

Before starting, and often within fixed application windows. In this sector the windows are frequently tied to the agricultural year or to seasonal production cycles, which constrains planning more than in other sectors.

Frequently yes, but through investment support with different rules than development funding. Here too it is decisive that the application is in before the binding order.