Agriculture Webinar | Agroecosystem Resilience in Marginal and Underutilized Lands: Innovative Approaches for Sustainable Management
Agriculture Webinar | Agroecosystem Resilience in Marginal and Underutilized Lands: Innovative Approaches for Sustainable Management
Part of the Agriculture Webinar series
17 October 2025
agroecosystem resilience, marginal and underutilized lands, sustainable agriculture, governance and socioeconomic factors, regenerative and indigenous practices, integrated resource management
Welcome from the Chair
Dear Colleagues,
It is my great pleasure to welcome you to the webinar “Agroecosystem Resilience in Marginal and Underutilized Lands: Innovative Approaches for Sustainable Management.” I am delighted to chair this session and bring together experts and participants who are committed to advancing sustainable practices. Groups such as this can provide leadership as researchers, practitioners, and policymakers exchange ideas and explore solutions that strengthen the resilience of fragile agroecosystems while promoting sustainability and food security.
I hope you all recognize your potential to contribute to the following issues:
- Standardizing definitions of terms such as marginal lands and underutilized lands; and ecological resistance, recovery, and resilience;
- Sustainability in light of global population, land use, technology, and climate changes;
- Objective scientific criteria to characterize agroecosystem resilience.
I look forward to engaging discussions, valuable insights, and innovative perspectives from our distinguished speakers and participants. Together, let us advance knowledge and collaboration that will inspire practical actions for the sustainable management of these vital landscapes and resilient agroecosystems for future generations.
Date: 17 October 2025
Time: 11:15 AM EDT | 05:15 PM CEST | 11:15 PM CST-ASIA
Webinar ID: 867 4285 9269
Webinar Secretariat: journal.webinar@mdpi.com
Event Chair
North Carolina State University, Dept. of Crop & Soil Sciences, V.G. James Center, North Carolina, USA
I am interested in applying knowledge of basic chemical, physical, and biological properties of agricultural systems to achieve more efficient natural resource utilization. I retired in 2019 from a position providing Cooperative Extension agents and farmers in Eastern North Carolina with the best available information regarding soil fertility management to optimize crop production and minimize offsite impacts to the areas’ waterways. As a retiree, current volunteer activities include service on the NC Board of Licensing for Soil Scientists, NC Envirothon soils training, consultations with NCSU cropping system projects, reviewing, and international consultations.
Keynote Speakers
Sustainability Institute, School of the Environment, Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU), Tallahassee FL, USA
Dr. Hubert Hirwa is the Assistant Director of the Sustainability Institute, Florida A&M University (FAMU). He is interdisciplinary environmental scientist focused on solutions-driven approaches to ecological challenges in coupled human and natural systems. He has a background in Ecology and Sustainable Agriculture. Through his research, he integrates geospatial data, advanced statistics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning to address complex challenges in food systems and natural resource management.
Indianapolis School of Science, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Indiana University, Indianapolis USA
Yu Peng is a Ph.D. candidate in Applied Earth Sciences at Indiana University Indianapolis, advised by Dr. Lixin Wang and Dr. Pierre-André Jacinthe. His research examines how agricultural conservation practices can enhance cropland resilience under a warming climate. His interests span nature-based solutions, climate resilience, agroecological transitions, and soil GHG emissions. Yu has published seven first-author papers in journals such as Earth’s Future and Field Crops Research. Yu also serves as a reviewer for Remote Sensing of Environment, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, and Soil Use and Management.
School of the Environment, Florida A&M University, Florida USA
Dr. Richard David Schulterbrandt Gragg III is an interdisciplinary scholar and professor at the Florida A&M University School of the Environment where he leads collaborative efforts at the nexus of environmental science, policy, and ethics in the graduation of practitioners and change agents deploying quantitative, qualitative, and interdisciplinary skills and approaches in governance and information spaces with an emphasis in resilient community agency and voice. In the HBCU Environmental Space and Community of Practice, Professor Schulterbrandt Gragg partners with public and private entities, emphasizing the human-environment relationship through the lens of STEAHM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Humanities, and Math). Dr. Schulterbrandt Gragg earned his Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences and M.S. in Pharmacology from Florida A&M University, and his B.S. in Biochemistry from Binghamton University (SUNY).
Registration
This is a FREE webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information on how to join the webinar. Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized.
Certificates of attendance will be delivered to those who attend the live webinar.
Can’t attend? Register anyway and we’ll let you know when the recording is available to watch.
Program
|
Speaker/Presentation |
Time in EDT |
|
Professor Carl Crozier Chair Introduction |
11:15 - 11:25 am |
|
Dr. Hubert Hirwa (Speaker 1) Big Data, Geospatial AI, and Citizen Science: Monitoring Marginalized Lands Together |
11:25 - 11:45 am |
|
Peng Yu (Speaker 2) Cover Crops at work, from yield stability to ecosystem services |
11:45 am – 12:05 pm |
|
Q&A |
12:05 - 12:15 pm |
|
Closing of Webinar Professor Carl Crozier |
12:15 – 12:20 pm |
Relevant Special Issue
Guest Editors: Dr. Hubert Hirwa and Dr. Richard Schulterbrandt Gragg
Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 January 2026
Sponsors and Partners
Organizers
