Dr Mitrousia takes on the mantle of heading up Limagrain's highly successful oilseed rape breeding programme from Dr Vasilis Gegas, who is now overseeing the whole of Limagrain's European oilseed rape portfolio.

As the only UK-focussed oilseed rape breeding programme, Limagrain has been highly successful in being the first plant breeder to introduce high yielding varieties with traits such as TuYV resistance, alongside a range of other valuable traits such as pod shatter resistance, RLM 7 resistance and Clubroot resistance.

This approach has led to Limagrain's oilseed rape varieties such as Aspire taking top positions on the 2019/20 AHDB Recommended List.

With a background in research in light leaf spot and phoma stem canker from the University of Hertfordshire and the John Innes Centre, Dr Mitrousia plans to develop this approach by continuing to bring varieties to the market that have valuable attributes to growers - making OSR a more profitable crop at a time when it is facing increasing challenges.

She says the opportunity to bring high level genetic resources into everyday varieties is what excites her about the role.

"It's all about the connection between understanding farmers' needs in a changing environment and employment of high level genetic research that is needed in order to continue to develop innovative varieties that are relevant to farmers. This is what I plan to do in my new role and I am very much looking forward to working with the industry in doing just this."