Ramat Negev Research and Development operates within the Ramat Negev Regional Council. It is funded by JNF, Ministry of Agriculture, the Office of Development of the Negev and Galilee, and the Settlement Division of the Zionist Federation.
The Experimental Center was established about 50 years ago as part of the project of setting up regional R & D's.
Its main purpose was to encourage the development of agriculture in the peripheral areas, taking advantage of the natural resources.
Ramat Negev is a desert region with two different types of soil: sand and light loess. The average yearly rainfall is 80 mm. Brackish water can be found in underground aquifers at a depth of 800 to 1200 meters, and is pumped out of wells drilled by the Mekorot Company.
Taking advantage of all these conditions, Ramat Negev R & D focuses on developing advanced agriculture in arid conditions, irrigating with brackish water.
Ramat Negev R & D carries out experiments every year to test varieties of olives, pomegranates, jojoba, rootstocks for wine grapes, tomatoes, peppers, fresh herbs and ornamental flowers.
Today the farmers in the Nitzana area grow about 1500 dunams of tomatoes in covered structures, 200 dunams of fresh herbs and about 150 dunams of flowers.
This area also exports the largest quantity in Israel of cherry tomatoes on vines (about 15,000 tons per year).
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