Type of Event: Education

Growing Farms: Successful Whole Farm Management provides farmers with the tools and knowledge needed to develop and manage a successful farm business. This course is intended for people who are considering starting a farm business, those within their first five years of farming and others who may be considering major changes to their farm business.

The core Growing Farms course is a series of six online modules that lead you through the basics of managing a successful farm business. The combined online/on-site course option includes the six online modules PLUS several face-to-face classes and one full-day field trip. Classroom times are from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. Meet with other students in an instructor-facilitated learning experience. There will be three evening classes (2-3 hours each), plus a full day of farm tours.

Schedule:

January 22 – 6:00-8:30pm

February 5 – 6:00-8:30pm

February 19 – All-day field trip

February 23 – Small Farms Conference (included)

March 5 – 6:00-8:30pm

The course was developed by OSU Small Farms Program faculty and other farm management experts, and is presented in an interactive and graphically rich format. Modules include more than four hours of video created specifically for the Growing Farms course, and feature six Oregon farmers who share their experience and insights about farming (see Featured Farmers). Although the course draws on examples from Oregon’s robust farming communities, its innovative examples, models and insights are highly relevant to farmers nationwide.

Middle School students in Beaverton, OR will present their business plans to a panel of mentors, teachers, board members and community investors. Students are part of a one year Entrepreneurship program that helps them create business and non-profit ideas. They spend 36 weeks writing business plans, seeking investors and executing sales at community events, retail outlets and online. INVESTOR SPOTS STILL OPEN: Six investor opportunities are available to “judge” students in a “Shark Tank” style event on February 28th, 2019. After reviewing their Business plans and hearing a 3 minute Elevator Pitch, the “Sharks” will determine how much investment each Young Entrepreneur receives. Investments can be as little as $250 and qualify as a tax deductible donation into our schools Global Education Initiative which provides learning tools for students in Korea, Haiti & The Philippines.

Growing Farms: Successful Whole Farm Management provides farmers with the tools and knowledge needed to develop and manage a successful farm business. This course is intended for people who are considering starting a farm business, those within their first five years of farming and others who may be considering major changes to their farm business.

The core Growing Farms course is a series of six online modules that lead you through the basics of managing a successful farm business. The combined online/on-site course option includes the six online modules PLUS several face-to-face classes and one full-day field trip. Classroom times are from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m. Meet with other students in an instructor-facilitated learning experience. There will be three evening classes (2-3 hours each), plus a full day of farm tours.

Schedule:

January 22 – 6:00-8:30pm

February 5 – 6:00-8:30pm

February 19 – All-day field trip

February 23 – Small Farms Conference (included)

March 5 – 6:00-8:30pm

The course was developed by OSU Small Farms Program faculty and other farm management experts, and is presented in an interactive and graphically rich format. Modules include more than four hours of video created specifically for the Growing Farms course, and feature six Oregon farmers who share their experience and insights about farming (see Featured Farmers). Although the course draws on examples from Oregon’s robust farming communities, its innovative examples, models and insights are highly relevant to farmers nationwide.

Whether you’re a homeowner, manufacturer, service provider, or independent contractor, lean whole systems thinking will help you do MUCH more with FAR less.

In this lean primer we’ll address:

• What are whole systems thinking and how does it pertain to lean?
• How to reduce throughput time on and expose waste in any process through?
• What is work, and what are the 8 wastes of lean, and how can they help you think more green?
• How organizational culture is a key ingredient to process improvement.

We will discuss the following concepts:

• Value
• Single piece flow vs batching work
• Just In Time thinking
• The continuous improvement process
• The 8 forms of waste
• The culture of Lean
• Systems thinking

Join Kjell van Zoen at Energy 350 to better understand how to develop and introduce lean in your organization and your personal workflow.

Roots of Lean Whole Systems Thinking

In the 1950’s Taiichi Ohno, the father of lean manufacturing created what became known as the Toyota Production System and subsequently as Lean. In the words of Mr. Ohno himself, if we “are not given the opportunity to serve the company by working effectively, there can be no joy. For the company to deny that opportunity is to be against the principle of respect for humanity.”

According to lean, anything that doesn’t increase value in the eye of the customer is considered waste, and every effort should be made to eliminate that waste as it is taking time away from working on more meaningful tasks. By the early 2000s, a connection was being made between waste and the impact it had on the environment (energy, water, landfill, pollution and carbon emissions), and the idea of “lean and green” was born.

More recently, the connection between lean and whole systems thinking was made, leading to a new approach to lean as part of a greater global awareness of complex systems that involve sociotechnical (process & culture) and natural systems.

What do others think of this class?

“Good information and break down of concepts for people who don’t know much about these concepts beforehand!”

“Definitely a great example of applying the mindset as well as the process tools. Presented well!”

“Great intro to lean principles. Enjoyed the history of Toyota, Deming, and background”

“Fun, interactive, super informative!”

“I loved the level of detail we were able to get into”

“Activity was great & the visual showing smaller batch efficiency was cool too”

“The camera exercise made value stream numbers come to life”

On March 27th and 28th, OHSU will be hosting the 2019 Commercialization Conference that connects OHSU innovators with investors, industry partners and community collaborators to help build a vibrant regional hub for innovative technology. Speaker sessions, startup pitches, industry insights and collaboration stories will focus on the theme of “Fueling Health Care Innovation.” The conference offers a platform for attendees to explore the impact of and understand the drivers of innovation that will revolutionize health care.

New for this year’s conference is a special pre-event SBIR/STTR workshop that will guide researchers and startups through the SBIR/STTR program and proposal develop.

To learn more about the OHSU Commercialization Conference and the SBIR/STTR workshop and to register, please follow this link.

https://www.ohsu.edu/xd/research/techtransfer/2019commercialization.cfm