Missouri soybean growers will get a side-by-side look at pest management, precision spraying and on-farm robotics on July 8, 2026, when University of Missouri Extension and Missouri Soybeans host the Crop and Pest Management Field Day and Ag Innovation Showcase.

Mandy Bish, a specialist with University of Missouri Extension, framed the program as a working demonstration rather than a sit-down conference. "I'm looking forward to the Crop and Pest Management Field Day and Ag Innovation Showcase," Bish said.

What will the showcase cover?

The day's program blends three threads that map directly to soybean economics: applied crop and pest research, autonomous machinery and spray application. Those three focus areas correspond to three line items on a soybean operation's expense ledger: seed and variety selection, labor and equipment, and chemical inputs.

Field days built around those themes typically let growers compare equipment setups under local conditions. They weigh nozzle coverage and application rate against their own sprayer, and see autonomous machinery operating in row-crop settings rather than in manufacturer-controlled trade-show environments. Live plots also let attendees judge how a research recommendation performs on Missouri soils and humidity.

What does precision spraying actually change on the farm?

Targeted nozzle control and rate adjustment cover three distinct technologies. Boom section control — automatic shutoff at headlands and field edges — eliminates double-application overlap. Pulse-width modulation (PWM) valves vary flow without changing pressure, holding droplet size constant across speed changes.

Nozzle-by-nozzle drift reduction governs off-target movement near sensitive crops, pastures or rural residences. Each of those features maps to a different line on the chemical-cost ledger.

How do those features translate to dollars?

Boom shutoff cuts total product applied. PWM preserves coverage quality across speed variation on rolling ground. Nozzle selection controls both drift exposure and the buffer zones growers must leave near sensitive sites. For an operation spraying several thousand soybean acres per season, even a modest reduction in overlap translates into a measurable per-pass savings.

Why pair extension with a state commodity organization?

Co-hosting with Missouri Soybeans is a common funding and demonstration route. Such arrangements typically steer the agenda toward issues the grower-funded side has flagged as priorities — in soybean systems, that usually means pest pressure, fungicide timing and resistance management.

The structure also helps extension specialists reach operations that already engage with the commodity board, cutting through the attendance plateau that has thinned smaller standalone events over the past decade.

Why robotics on a soybean field day?

Robotics demonstrations tend to draw operations weighing labor-replacement investments and platform compatibility with existing equipment. For a working farmer, the practical test is whether new components fit within a current tractor and implement setup. Growers rarely resolve that question without seeing the equipment operate in a real row-crop environment.

Forward signal

A July 8 demonstration falls inside the mid-summer decision window when growers evaluate input plans for the following season's burndown and residual herbicide programs. Attendees leave with field-verified observations they can match against their own sprayer setup before fall purchasing decisions close.