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).

Will Maples is an Associate Professor with the Mississippi State University Extension Service and Department of Agricultural Economics. Dr. Maples’ extension specialty is in row crop marketing and policy, where he aids producers in decision-making by providing information on market conditions and education on risk management strategies. In addition to commodity marketing, his research interests include the economics of farm management practices and agricultural policy. In the classroom, he has taught undergraduate courses in Financial and Commodity Futures Marketing, as well as Agricultural Policy. He grew up on a beef farm in Elkmont, Alabama, and earned degrees from the University of Arkansas, Mississippi State University, and Oklahoma State University.

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.

In 2002, Chad joined Molpus as a Lands and Harvesting Manager in southwest Louisiana and has worked in multiple capacities while with the company. Starting in 2012, he served as Property Manager in Idaho and Eastern Washington, until he accepted the position of Operations Director for the Northwest Region in 2016. In 2023, Chad relocated to Hattiesburg, MS where he was promoted to Deputy Chief Operating Officer. Chad assumed his current position of Chief Operating Officer in 2025, where he is responsible for the day-to-day management of Molpus’s nationwide operations, including budgetary and operational management, operational analytics, and organizational planning and structuring.

During his tenure with Molpus, Chad has also served as Harvesting Manager-Silsbee, Texas, Inventory Manager-Southeastern U.S., and Division Forester-Antlers, Oklahoma and Corrigan, Texas.

Prior to Molpus, he was employed by F&W Forestry Services, where he gained considerable experience in forest inventory. Chad has served on the Idaho Pro-Logger Advisory Committee, the SFI Implementation Committee for Idaho (Chair) and Washington, and the Trucking and Labor Task Force Coalition.

Chad is a 1998 graduate of Stephen F. Austin State University, where he received his Bachelor of Science in Forestry with a minor in biology.

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.