Barry Bean, of Gideon, was re-elected to a two-year term on the Missouri Farm Bureau (MFB) board of directors during the organization’s 105th annual meeting December 10 at the Lake of the Ozarks. Bean represents District 6 in the southeast area of the state and has served in the position since 2015.
Bean received a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of the South in Sewanee, Tennessee, and did graduate work at Memphis State University. He also attended the Memphis Cotton Exchange International Cotton School. He is president of Bean & Bean Cotton Company, which buys cotton from Missouri producers and gins and sells to buyers around the world.
Bean also farms with his son and brother, raising traditional row crops, cotton, rice, potatoes and watermelons. In addition, he is a partner with Rose Commodity Group, which provides a daily online analysis of the cotton market. He and his wife, Vicki, have two grown children.
Bean is a member of the Dunklin County Farm Bureau board on which he is vice-president and chairman of the Scholarship Committee. He is a member of the MOFB cotton, resolutions and FARM-PAC review committees, as well as the American Farm Bureau Cotton Committee.
Other agricultural organizations to which Bean belongs include the Memphis Cotton Exchange and the Cotton Producers of Missouri. He is also involved in community activities and serves on the Pemiscot County Vocational Technical School advisory committee and is a member of the Caruthersville Arts Council and the Missouri Alliance for Arts Education.
Bean is an accomplished blues and jazz musician and a competitive cyclist. He has worked with several cycling organizations to promote agriculture.
