Grain Crops Division was established in 1981 in Potchefstroom in the North-West Province. Strategic and need driven research involves cultivar evaluation, plant breeding, improvement of crop quality, weed control, tillage, plant nutrition, water utilisation, plant pathology, entomology and nematology.

The ARC-Institute for Industrial Crops is an Institute of the Agricultural Research Council in South Africa. ARC-IIC is responsible for all the research on cotton, hemp, flax, kenaf, sisal, tobacco and indigenous fibre crops. The Institute, based in Rustenburg in the North West Province, operates with three research divisions namely, Plant Protection, Crop and Soil Science and Cultivar Development. The Institute also manages three experimental stations and conducts field trials in all the production areas for cotton, tobacco and the other crops mentioned above in South Africa.