James Hutton Limited is delighted to welcome Amanda De Moura to our team as our new Soft Fruit Breeder and Trials Manager as she takes over our Blackcurrant and Redcurrant breeding programmes and a selection of our soft fruit projects.

Here’s what Amanda had to say…

I’m Amanda and I’m from Lavras, Minas Gerais in Brazil. I come from a family of growers and agronomists, with my grandfather growing corn, rice, and coffee in his own fields, as well as producing cheese.

Ever since I was young, especially from the age of two when my favourite toy was a tractor, I knew that I wanted to grow up to be an agronomist. I attended the Federal University of Lavras where I achieved my bachelor’s degree in Agronomy and continued studying Crop Science with a focus on plant breeding for my master’s degree and PHD, from which I have just graduated. Having spent the last 12 years in academia, I have been fortunate enough that it has taken me around the world from spending a year in Coimbra, Portugal, during my bachelor’s degree, to conducting research and working in Purdue University in Indiana, USA, as well as working on Upland Rice Breeding programmes since 2015 in Brazil, a practice adopted in only a few countries worldwide. 

My goal is to help people with producing foods and developing varieties and, since my time in Portugal, I’ve had a great desire to move back to Europe so I’m very pleased that I get to follow and fulfil my dreams. My role comes with a lot of responsibilities, but my main priority is to contribute and add value from my knowledge and experience into James Hutton Limited through continuous developments and I’m looking forward to being part of the group.

Some fun facts

What is your favourite meal?
I have a lot of favourite meals and foods but there are three things I can’t live without, the Three Cs; chocolate, cheese and coffee!

If you could do anything for a day, what would you do?
If I could do anything, I would choose to fly around…like Superman!”