Lean farm

Contents Acknowledgments Introduction

xi 1

PART I

Lean Thinking on the Farm 1. Every Tool in Its Place 2. Farm for Your Customers: Precisely Identify Value 3. Learn to See Value 4. Ten Types of Farm Waste 5. Flow I: Tools to Root Out Farm Production Waste 6. Flow II: Tools to Root Out Farm Management Waste 7. Lean Farm Sales: Establish Pull, Don’t Push 8. Continuous Improvement (Kaizen) 9. Respect for People: Lean and Farm Staff 10. Lean Applied at Clay Bottom Farm: Ten Specific Cases

19 33 47 55 67 93 121 131 139 155

PART II

Lean in an Agricultural Context 11. The Lean Farm Start-Up 12. The Limits of Lean in Agriculture 13. Lean for More Than Profit Glossary of Japanese Terms Resources for Further Study Notes Index

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Thornless blackberries

Perennial beds

Storage shed

Fruit trees

Processing barn

Raspberry patch

Seed

Annual vegetables

Pasture 1

Clay Bottom Farm.

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erries

ds

Pasture 3

Asparagus Annual vegetables

Seedling/microgreens greenhouse, 20' × 72'

Heated greenhouse, 30' × 90'

Hoophouse, 30' × 90'

Hoophouse, 30' × 90'

Pasture 2

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Ten Types of Farm Waste

Harvesting and washing peppers and seeding ginger are examples of direct actions that add value to products. Pepper photo courtesy of David Johnson Photography.

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The Lean Farm

Trellising tomatoes and field prep are examples of type 1 muda, actions that might lead up to value but that do not directly add value. Lean says to minimize them.

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The Limits of Lean in Agriculture

Expensive, single-use equipment Narrowly skilled or unskilled workers

High volume, little variety

Mass (volume)

Efficiency through scale

Resource intense

Highly flexible, right-sized equipment Flexible volume (as per demand), high variety

Multiskilled workers

Lean (volume + variety) Efficiency through process

Resource efficient

Simple, flexible equipment Ultralow volume (one item at a time), high variety

Highly skilled workers

Craft (variety) Not efficient: high cost of production

Resource efficient

3 Types of Production. Mass production specializes in volume; craft production specializes in variety. Lean combines the best of both. Based in part on concepts from The Machine That Changed the World by James P. Womack, Daniel T. Jones, and Daniel Roos.

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