Northern Ireland Agri-Food Investment Initiative

By Grainne Carroll

Hands of a meat factory worker gathering packed meat on a conveyor belt.

Funded through Invest NI, this programme aims to enhance the competitiveness of the Northern Ireland food and drinks processing sector. The programme will provide investment funding to support companies to increase their growth, efficiency and productivity, with particular emphasis on capital investment in key areas, including machinery and equipment.

With financial supports of up to 35% available, now is the time to consider an investment in high performance machinery to improve the efficiency and productivity of your operations.

What are the benefits of the Agri-Food Investment Initiative?

The main aims of AFII 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

Small businesses* – The maximum aid intensity that can be granted is 35 per cent 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 £300,000.

Medium businesses* – The maximum aid intensity that can be granted is 25 per cent 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 £500,000.

Large businesses* – The maximum aid intensity is 20 per cent 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 £1,000,000.

* As per the EU definition, SMEs are businesses with a staff headcount of fewer than 250 people, and which have an annual turnover no more than €50 million or an annual balance sheet total no more than €43 million.

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.

Who can apply?

AFII is open to all Invest NI clients and new clients* 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)

*Businesses which are not currently Invest NI clients must demonstrate that they meet Invest NI’s criteria to become a client and if they do so, they will then be on-boarded.

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

Find out more in the Agri-Food Investment Initiative – Guidance Notes (PDF)

How to apply

For help and advice with your application visit InvestNI

How can we help?

At NPP, we know the difference investing in the right packaging machinery can make to maximising your returns and ensuring long-term success.

With our comprehensive range of packaging systems, both inline and end of line, we have the right solutions for the Agri-Food sector, catering for small operators through to large producers with high automation requirements.

Our team of machinery experts will advise you on the best solutions for your business and will guide you from project design, through machinery trials and installation and as a service partner going forward.