Esther Van Meeuwen is a Technical Officer with many years’ experience in cropping, plant breeding and agricultural research in Australia as well as The Netherlands. Interest in plant breeding started when she was working for a plant breeding company in The Netherlands while studying for a BSc Agriculture. After completing her degree and moving to Australia in 2000, Esther has worked with a range of agricultural crops from citrus and grapes to maize, spelt and rice on farm as well as in research. She has a passion for all things agriculture and is keen to provide new and improved rice varieties to benefit the Australian rice industry as part of the Rice Breeding Australia team.