Defense planning is under way across the country. No-tillers are taking aim at the weeds, insects and diseases that could threaten their soybean crops in 2004. And as the threats to soybeans change - aphids have become a bigger problem in the past couple of years, and fast-acting rust disease seems ready to move into the U.S. from South America - the country's pesticide manufacturers are offering some new alternatives on top of proven performers to guard the fields.

For four days in early January, the focus of two very different worlds, both buzzing about the prospects of a more prosperous future, centered on the Marriott Hotel in downtown Des Moines, Iowa.