Businesses and universities across the UK will benefit from a share of £5 million in joint funding from government and industry to develop innovations to solve some of the world's greatest agricultural challenges, it was announced on Wednesday.

The £5m is being made available as part of the second round of the government's Agri-Tech Catalyst, which was announced in July 2013. The initiative will distribute funding from a total pot of £70m.

The Agri-Tech Catalyst, run by BBSRC and Innovate UK, is designed to support collaborative research between scientists and businesses to springboard projects from the lab to the market place. Innovations in this round include an autonomous robot weed sprayer for difficult terrain farm land and developing a cereal to create improved bread products for diabetics.

Under the current round of funding, 13 projects will receive £4m funding from government and £1.3m from industry, following on from grants delivered as part of the strategy in March and July.

Some of the projects receiving funding include:

• exploring pearl millet variation to produce improved bread products for diabetics
• developing rice resistance to 2 major diseases to support food security in Asia
• autonomous systems for remotely monitoring an invasive fruit pest
• developing a robotic weed sprayer for difficult terrain farm land
• decreasing food waste through the control of fruit flies in Asia and Africa
• exploring the use of genome-screening and other technology to reduce the mastitis disease in sheep

Defra minister Lord de Mauley commented, "Investing in exciting technology in UK food and farming helps us grow this vital industry – from field to fork the food chain contributes £97Bn to our economy and employs 1 in 8 people.

"Whether it's safeguarding animals and crops against disease or using robotics to farm the land, cutting edge projects like these not only contribute to our growing economy but benefit the environment and increase global food security."