About us

History

In the early 1960’s there was a request from farmers in the dry phase of the Tall Grassveld of KZN for guidance in the use and development of this area, especially with regards to the management of sandy soils.  It was agreed that a research station should be established to meet those needs.  The present property consisting of six smaller farms and was in October 1965 acquired, and DRS developed. Older inhabitants of the area attest that these farms were all in an extremely degraded condition.  This is supported by information that all the previous owners of these properties had applied for subsidies under the Soil Conservation Act.  The rationale behind using a degraded area for a research station was that solutions found could be applicable to a variety of farming situations. The Research Station was often referred to as the worst (most problematic) farm in the district (Peddie 2005).

Location

Dundee Research Station (DRS), Department Agriculture and Environmental Affairs, KZN, is situated about 10 km east of Dundee (latitude 28° 10’S and longitude 30°31’E) at an altitude of 1219 m (2830AB). The area is part of the Sour Sandveld, with it typical sandy soils. DRS covers an area of 1335.9 ha.

Climate

The average minimum summer temperature is 12.4°C and the maximum 26.1°C, while the average minimum winter temperature is 3.3°C with a maximum of 21.1°C. The long-term average rainfall is 782.8 mm a-1 with a typical summer distribution.

Sections:

Dundee research station operates with the following sections: 

• Farm Services & Admin
• Agronomy and Plant protection
• Animal Science, combined with Grassland and pasture Science             

OUR CLIENTS

Our current clients are:

• Organized Agriculture
• District Municipality
• Local Municipality
• Other relevant Departments.
• Educational Institutions
• Farmers
• Extension Services
• Agricultural Research Council
• All sections within the Department
• Potential farmers
• Mining industry
• Our potential clients are the:
• New land users