José Roberto Camacho is executive director of INTA and a plant breeder dedicated to the development of new and better plant varieties for improving the livelihood of Central American farmers. Along with his work is a cereal breeder, he works on the development of rice varieties for multiple environments, using conventional and molecular methods. In addition to his breeding responsibilities, he is the current Coordinator of Costa Rica’s Integrated Rice Research and Extension Program.

Dr. Camacho firmly believes in education as the fundamental means of self-improvement, a philosophy of life that he transmits daily to his co-workers, interns, and students. From a small rural community of Costa Rican Caribbean region, he obtained his B.Sc. in Agronomy at EARTH University, an internationally recognized non-profit university located in Costa Rica. He obtained his Ph.D. in Plant Breeding and Genetics from Louisiana State University in 2017, where he worked in their world-renowned rice breeding program.