Jerry Hatfield received his PhD from Iowa State University in 1975 in the area of agricultural climatology and is the retired director of the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment in Ames, Iowa. His research focuses on the interactions among the components of the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum and their linkage to air, water, and soil quality. His focus has been on the evaluation of farming systems and their response to water and nitrogen interactions across soils and remote sensing methods to quantify field variation. He utilizes the genetics x environment x management concept to show producers how they can increase their production efficiency, increase soil health, and develop resilience to weather and climate variation. He is the recipient of numerous awards including being inducted into the USDA ARS Hall of Fame for his research impact and the Hugh Hammond Bennett award. He is the author of 498 refereed publications and 18 monographs.