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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