Growing Kent & Medway offering share of £600,000 for sustainable food and drink innovation
Kent small businesses are being offered grants worth up to £50,000 for innovative ideas and technologies, which support sustainable operations in the fresh produce, food and drink supply chain.
Growing Kent & Medway said it is offering a share of £600,000 to businesses with innovative ideas via its Business Sustainability Challenge.
It is particularly interested in projects that create circular economies in the horticulture and plant-based food and drink supply chain.
"The South East is fast becoming the leading region for food innovation in the UK," said Dr Nikki Harrison, director for Growing Kent & Medway.
"This is a testament to the remarkable achievements and ambitions of our horticultural growers, and food and drink businesses.
"Our previous winners of the Business Sustainability Challenge have demonstrated that innovation not only drives growth but also creates new markets and revenue streams in the region."
Among last year's winners, who shared over £262,000, was Canterbury Brewers & Distillers, which received more than £13,000 to develop a new system, which uses their waste grains, energy, water, and carbon dioxide from brewing to produce speciality mushrooms.
"The Growing Kent & Medway Business Sustainability grant has allowed us to prove that we can be growing more than 100kg of speciality mushrooms from our brewing waste," said director Jon Mills.
"We are excited to see what further success our very own circular economy can have with the potential to bring new mushroom spirits to market!"
Other winners in 2023 were Nim’s Fruit Ltd, GrowUp Farms, Totally Natural Solutions Limited, Tensei Ltd, Evogro, and AC Hulme and Sons.
Businesses which enter must operate in the horticultural and plant-based food and drink industries, or propose a project which will positively impact these sectors.
The grant scheme is for high-impact, short-term innovative projects, with collaborations encouraged.
Successful applicants will need to match-fund 50% of the total project cost.
Anyone interested in applying for the grant is asked to click HERE.
