Agricultural startup grant – market validation

Do you want to start another agriculture-based business on your farm? You can apply for grants to explore and develop your business idea.
Ei jente på tur med en alpakka
© Christine Baglo - Visit Norway
Type of service
Grants
Target audience
Owner of an agricultural property
How much
Up to NOK 150,000
Application deadline
Ongoing
Application type
Other agriculture- and reindeer husbandry-based industries

The main target group is people who own or have ties to an agricultural property and want to start a different agriculture-based business on the farm.

Small businesses that use agricultural resources and create significant added value for primary producers can also apply for grants.

In this context, market gardens and small-scale vegetable production are considered other agriculture-based industries.

Priorities may vary between counties. Read the regional guidelines for your region.

You can use the grant to fund activities that help determine whether your business idea is viable. These may include market research, financial analyses and assessments, developing a business plan and business model, assessing your resource base, competence building and small-scale test production.

You can receive a grant covering up to 100% of external costs, capped at NOK 150,000, to assess your business idea, for example through market research.

1. Complete and submit your application

You can find the agricultural application form by logging in to 'My page' with BankID. We will ask you to provide the information and documentation we need to assess your project. Upload quotes from relevant suppliers who will assist you with market validation. You can use the 'Talk to an adviser' button in the application to ask for guidance before submitting it. Remember that you must not start the project before submitting your application.

2. Assessment

We review applications on an ongoing basis, and several members of our team assess each application. Our guidelines and regional priorities determine which projects we can fund. We receive many applications and have limited funds, so we cannot approve every application.

3. Decision

Your account manager presents your application to the decision-maker. Once we have made a decision, we will notify you by email, and you can find the decision on My page. If we offer you funding, make sure you understand the terms and how we will disburse the funds.

Agricultural funding exhausted in several regions

We are receiving a high volume of agricultural applications, and unfortunately most of our regional offices have no funding left for 2026. This currently applies to Agder, Innlandet, Møre og Romsdal, Nordland, Rogaland, Troms og Finnmark, Trøndelag, Vestfold and Østfold.

Applications affected by this will not receive a decision until 2027, provided the project is eligible.

It is important that you do not start the project before submitting your application.

Key conditions for funding

To receive services from us, your company must uphold the principles of responsible business conduct and actively consider its own sustainability risks. Read more about sustainability and responsible business conduct.

State aid rules

Funding from Innovation Norway must comply with State aid rules. There are five general conditions for State aid that must be met.

The General Block Exemption Regulation (GBER) is part of the State aid rules. It contains provisions that allow us to provide support to companies in various circumstances. One or more provisions may apply to each case. Read more about GBER.

Legal basis for the scheme

Our funding schemes have been notified to the EFTA Surveillance Authority, ESA. The legal basis for these notifications is available on the National Legal Basis page.

Other public funding

You must state in the application whether you have applied or intend to apply for other public funding for the project. We also determine the level of our funding based on an overall assessment of how much public funding is needed for the project to proceed.

When determining the grant amount, we therefore assume that you will not receive any other public funding, including SkatteFUNN, beyond what is stated in the application. This applies to funding for the project costs used to calculate our grant (eligible costs). If you nevertheless receive other public funding, including SkatteFUNN, after we have made our offer, and it covers the same costs, we may reduce or withdraw our grant accordingly.

This does not prevent the company from receiving other public funding for project costs other than those on which we have based our assessment.

Apply here
You can find the application form by logging in to My page with BankID.
Frequently asked questions and answers about agriculture