The 2026 CAST Annual Meeting & Student Innovation Conference ended Wednesday, Oct. 28, in St. Louis. CAST’s Board of Directors and Strategic Advisory Council met at the hotel to plan for 2027.
Looking ahead
CAST CEO Chris Boomsma and Ray Starling, chair of the Strategic Advisory Council, presented the council’s report on CAST’s future direction. The board discussed priorities for the next phase.
A new CAST president
Melissa Merlau Johnson is CAST’s new president, succeeding P.V. Vara Prasad. Johnson is global integrated field science leader at Corteva Agriscience and a member of CAST’s Plant & Soil Sciences Workgroup.
Three days in St. Louis
The meeting opened Monday, Oct. 26, at Grant’s Farm with the Student Innovation Conference:
- Thirteen students from six universities presented research posters.
- Rabia Ahuja of the University of Missouri won first place, Jacie Legois of Iowa State University won second and Rashid Sulleiman of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign won third.
- David Baltensperger, professor of soil and crop sciences at Texas A&M University, received the 2026 CAST President’s Award.
- Suraksha Baral, a doctoral student at Ohio State University, received her 2025 CAST Science Communication Scholarship trophy in person.
- Giles Oldroyd, president of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, gave the keynote address, followed by a conversation with Courtney Knupp, CEO of the United Soybean Board.
On Tuesday, Oct. 27, the meeting moved across the city:
- The board and workgroups met at Bayer’s Chesterfield campus, where Starling received the 2026 CAST President’s Award virtually.
- Student members toured the campus, and Baral shared six lessons for communicating agricultural science at a lunch hosted by Bayer.
- In the afternoon, attendees toured the Saint Louis Zoo and the Anheuser-Busch Brewery, then had dinner on The Hill.
Thank you
CAST thanks Bayer for hosting the 2026 Annual Meeting & Student Innovation Conference, and BASF, Corteva, Syngenta and Vylor for their support. Thank you to every student, faculty member, speaker, board member, council member, workgroup member and guest who joined us in St. Louis.
