The Station was established by the NSW Government in 1902. Originally its purpose was to investigate and evaluate suitable crop and livestock varieties for the north coast region and to provide superior stud stock to encourage the improvement of local herds.

One of the Station’s earlier functions was as a training institute for young men seeking careers in farming. This activity commenced prior to World War 1 and continued through to about 1935 and included boys trained under the Dreadnought Scheme, a scheme which brought young English boys to Australia to be trained in farm work and when considered proficient to be “distributed to the farmers of the state.”

In 1986 the Grafton Aquaculture Centre opened to conduct studies into the conservation of the endangered Eastern Freshwater Cod.

Since opening in 1902, the Station has made a major contribution to our knowledge of coastal agricultural production and has played a significant role in developing technologies associated with aquaculture, horticulture, cereal crops, summer legumes, pastures and livestock husbandry. Most recently, the station has made and is continuing to make, significant advances in beef cattle production, silver perch aquaculture, crop improvement for coastal farming systems (soybean, barley and triticale) and aquatic and terrestrial weed control.