JPFA Cares about Interactivity in Pandemic Times
The Japan Plant Factory Association (JPFA) has taken a look at how better it can offer workshops, which the coronavirus pandemic forced it to hold online, and has resolved not to sacrifice interactivity.
The JPFA has a rich history of running over 140 workshops since the first one in October 2009, most of which were done on-site before the pandemic. So, online workshops with recorded lectures held so far in pandemic times were somewhat unsatisfactory for the nonprofit organization.
The JPFA has thus moved to run new online workshops live with a seminar and a question-and-answer session. JPFA Vice President Eri Hayashi points to “what participants cannot ask unless they join live and interact,” saying that “previously, all workshop participants came to our site and learned together.”
Meantime, online workshops have their merits. The JPFA will allow registered participants in each new workshop to view its seminar’s recorded video later during a specified period although the recording does not contain the seminar Q&A session. Also, it is possible to participate in online workshops anywhere in the world.
For another reason, new JPFA workshops deserve consideration. They are made free of charge in principle for its members.
The first new workshop, the JPFA’s 142nd one, will be held on July 9, 2021, with its seminar scheduled for 9:00-11:00 on that day (JST).
In the seminar, Prof. Chieri Kubota of the Ohio State University will first speak in Japanese on “The Latest Developments in the United States in the Fields of Greenhouse Horticulture and Plant Factories with Artificial Lighting.”
Ian Justus, vice president of cultivation at Connected Cannabis, will speak next in English on “Cannabis Cultivation in Controlled Environments in the United States.”
A Q&A session, hosted in Japanese and English by Hayashi of the JPFA, will wrap up the workshop.
The recorded seminar video can be watched from 13:00 on Tuesday, July 13, until 13:00 on Tuesday, July 20 (JST). While JPFA members can attend the new workshop free of charge, nonmembers will be charged 3,000 yen each (including the consumption tax).
Anybody interested in the JPFA’s upcoming workshop can apply from here (https://select-type.com/e/?id=uqF7xCNjV0c). For more information, click here (https://npoplantfactory.org/information/study/2687/).
To apply for JPFA membership, click here (https://select-type.com/e/?id=EqoC-uNZAeY#page_mail).
The JPFA is planning to hold the next 143rd workshop on strawberries, possibly in early August.
For more information:
Japan Plant Factory Association
E-mail: benkyokai@npoplantfactory.org
https://npoplantfactory.org/information/study/2687/
About Japan Plant Factory Association (JPFA)
The Japan Plant Factory Association, a nonprofit organization with over 200 members in Japan and abroad, is devoted to advancing the plant factory industry and controlled-environment agriculture in and outside Japan through academia-industry collaborations.
Its mission is to develop and disseminate sustainable plant factory systems in a bid to address issues concerning food, the environment, energy and natural resources.
The JPFA oversees plant factories on the Chiba University Kashiwanoha campus in Kashiwa, northeast of Tokyo. Also, it works on about 20 R&D projects and runs workshops and training courses.