Agriculture and Farm Activities Conference

Austin L. Bean, Vice President & Branch Manager of Southern AgCredit, ACA in Brookhaven, Mississippi, began his Farm Credit career in 2010 with First South Farm Credit, ACA. In 2013, he joined Southern AgCredit, ACA. He graduated from Mississippi State University with a bachelor’s degree in business administration in risk management, insurance, and financial planning and from Mississippi College with a master’s degree in business administration. He is a board member for the Lincoln County Forestry Association and Lincoln County Cattlemen’s Association. He serves as School Board President of Amite School Center in Liberty, MS. He grew up on a dairy farm in Gillsburg, MS where he and his wife, Kayla, now reside with their three children, Amelia, Kenna & Harvey. Austin is a member of Gillsburg Baptist Church.

Kevin Kim is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Mississippi State University. He joined MSU in 2021 after earning a Ph.D. in Agricultural Economics from The Ohio State University and a B.A. in Finance from the University of Notre Dame.

Dr. Kim's research work focuses on critical agricultural finance topics, including farm financial distress, shifts in the agricultural lending market, and farmland values. He is also actively involved in extension activities and teaching, with a strong commitment to improving financial literacy among students and local producers. He teaches agricultural finance courses at both undergraduate and graduate levels. He also leads the annual Mississippi Agricultural Outlook Conference, where stakeholders from various sectors gain insights from extension specialists in different fields.

He currently chairs the Agricultural Finance Management (AFM) Section of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA).

Walker Roberts serves as Director of Financial Reporting at Cal‑Maine Foods, Inc. since 2022, overseeing all public SEC filings and managing internal financial reporting, among other key responsibilities. Prior to this role, he built a strong foundation in public accounting beginning in 2010, where he provided audit and consulting services across multiple industries, particularly the healthcare industry.

Walker is a Certified Public Accountant licensed in Mississippi and holds both a Master’s in Accounting and a Bachelor’s in Accounting from the University of Mississippi.

Chad McElvany is Head of Forestry Operations-North America at Molpus Woodlands Group, which has been part of the Gresham House group since June 2026.

Chad has been with Molpus Woodlands Group since March 2002 and has accumulated more than two decades of experience in timberland operations and forest management. He assumed the role of Chief Operating Officer in March 2025, where he was responsible for the day-to-day management of Molpus’s U.S. operations, including budgetary and operational oversight, operational analytics, and organizational planning and structure. Prior to being named COO, Chad served as Deputy Chief Operating Officer for two years, helping lead strategic initiatives and operational improvements across the organization. He was Operations Director and Property Manager for the U.S. Northwest Region from 2012 to 2023. Early in his career at Molpus, Chad served in a variety of operational forestry roles throughout the southern U.S., including Harvesting Manager, Division Forester, and Inventory Manager.

A 1998 graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University, Chad earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Forestry with a minor in Biology. He remains actively engaged in the forestry profession and currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Mississippi Forestry Association.

Jia Scott serves as Vice President of Treasury at Cal‑Maine Foods, Inc. and oversees all of the treasury management and tax functions for the Company. She has worked for Cal-Maine for 12 years but prior to this role, she was Vice President of Tax of Parkway Properties Inc. and has held other senior financial positions at various other publicly traded companies where she played a leading role in accounting, debt management and treasury services.

Jia holds a Bachelor of Accounting from Jackson State University, a Master of Accountancy from Millsaps College and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Dr. Brian Mills is an Associate Professor in the Department of Agricultural Economics at Mississippi State University, specializing in farm management. Brian works primarily on evaluating various crop and livestock production decisions, such as crop selection, cover cropping, input costs, and precision agriculture. He has contributed to the development of annual enterprise budgets that show projected costs of production and income for various crop, forage, and livestock operations. Furthermore, Brian has worked on agricultural policy and expected payments related to government programs, such as the Agricultural Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs.