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Agri-Food Investment Initiative

Grant support for food and drink processing businesses to increase efficiency, improve productivity, build capacity, and develop innovative products.

Who it is for

This support is available to Invest Northern Ireland clients, which are manufacturing and/or tradeable services businesses with the potential to both:

achieve at least 25% of sales external to Northern Ireland (or at least £250,000 external sales, whichever is lower)
employ at least ten staff, within five years

If you can demonstrate that your business meets these criteria, you may be eligible to apply to become an Invest NI client.

You must be operating within one or more of the following food and drink processing sectors:

meat processing (beef, sheep, pig, and poultry)
dairy, milk, and milk products
potatoes
cereals/arable crops, fruit and vegetables
bakery, snacks, and convenience
drinks and beverages
animal feed
cold stores (industrially de-rated only)

Due to State Aid restrictions, businesses involved in the following activities should contact their Invest NI Client Executive or foodenquiries@investni.com before completing an online eligibility check or applying:

bakery (only applications from SMEs are eligible)
drinks and beverages (only applications from SMEs are eligible)
cold stores (only applications from SMEs are eligible)
egg processing

Support you can get

The maximum eligible costs per individual investment project under this scheme will be no more than €25 million. The maximum assistance available under this scheme will be around £5 million.

Small businesses: The maximum aid intensity that can be granted is 35% of the eligible investment costs. Minimum project size is £300,000.
Medium businesses: The maximum aid intensity that can be granted is 25% of the eligible investment costs. Minimum project size is £500,000.
Large businesses: The maximum aid intensity is 20% of the eligible investment costs, however, the aid intensity for any individual project will be limited to the minimum support required to implement the project, compared to the counterfactual scenario in the absence of aid. Minimum project size is £1 million.

The main aims of the initiative are to:

support enterprises to increase their efficiency and improve their productivity
improve the competitiveness of Northern Ireland’s Agri-food sector
support capacity building, growth, innovation and new product development

How to apply

Use the Invest Northern Ireland eligibility checker to find out if you can apply for the Agri-Food Investment Initiative, and what the next steps are.