John Patrick is internationally renowned for his theoretical and experimental advances in the regulation of nutrient transport and partitioning in plants. He has developed a novel theoretical framework that identifies control points for the regulation of nutrient transport through, and unloading from, the plant vascular network to fuel organ development. Patrick’s innovative experimental approaches have shown how metabolic demand for nutrients is coordinated with vascular transport by phytohormones, cell turgor and nutrient pool sizes. These discoveries have laid a conceptual framework to further elucidate nutrient transport and partitioning mechanisms and to identify novel targets for improving crop yield.