Ben Hartman - The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables: More In-Depth Lean Techniques for Efficient Organic Production

Praise for The Lean Farm

Farming is not just a business, but its still a business, and Hartmans application of Toyotas efficiency principles to the farm is nothing short of profound. As I read this fantastic book, my mind literally skipped from procedure to place on our farm with new ideas on how to create efficiencies. The Lean Farm should be dissected, digested, and discussedthen appliedon every single farm: big or small, wholesale or retail, livestock or produce. It would make all farms more profitable, productive, and pleasurable.

Joel Salatin , owner of Polyface Farm,
author of You Can Farm and Folks, This Aint Normal

Anyone who thinks lean is only for a factory should read this book. Ben Hartman, with simple but eloquent prose and delightful figures and photos, demonstrates how all aspects of lean can apply to farming, a process of growing and selling living things. The mysterious uniqueness of farming under constantly changing conditions became clear as Ben learned to understand his customers and his value streams to increase value and eliminate waste. And lean reinforced, rather then replaced, the strong social values of the Hartman farm.

Jeffrey Liker , author of The Toyota Way

Farmers are good at farmingit is what they enjoy doing! At the same time, planning, organizing, and working out everything most efficiently is often not done as easily. The Lean Farm will help us all easily increase flow, production, and income. It is a treasure trove of possibilities without the need for increased investment!

John Jeavons , author of How to Grow More Vegetables ,
executive director of Ecology Action, and developer of
sustainable, biologically intensive mini-farming

If you want to see, right now, what food farming will look like in the coming years, this is the book for you. Using the kind of super-efficiency that new-age manufacturing has perfected, author Ben Hartman describes, in great detail and with superb illustrations, how he and his wife reduced their farm size from three acres to one and still make a decent living on it.

Gene Logsdon , author of The Contrary Farmer

Ben Hartman is diversified farmings Dean of Lean. He walks the talk, sharing insights on how lean principles helped his farm and how they can help yours. Lean is the epitome of efficiency, an essential ingredient of any successful farm.

Richard Wiswall , author of
The Organic Farmers Business Handbook

With lean principles, whats good for the farm is even better for the farmer. As we invite new farmers back to the land, into vacant lots, and onto rooftops, we have to give them the tools for success and the ability to sustain. Lean farming wont leave you trying to turn a farm into an automotive factory, but you will get a whiff of what it means when the rubber hits the road.

Philip Ackerman-Leist ,
author of Rebuilding the Foodshed

We give every new employee a copy of Bens writing to study. Adopting lean principles has been critical for bringing organization, focus, and harmony to our 100-acre fully diversified vegetable farm. A place for everything, and everything in its place is a refrain we repeat over and over.

Pete Johnson , organic farmer and
owner of Petes Greens, Craftsbury, Vermont

Clay Bottom Farm is a gem of a place in northern Indiana, where we are repeatedly told that you need a thousand acres to make a living as a farmer. Ben Hartman and his wife Rachel disprove this conventional wisdom every day by managing a thriving farm business, not on a thousand acres, but on just one. In The Lean Farm , Ben explains how their elegant approach can be applied by anyone. His writing, like his farm, is clean, well organized, and easy to followbut his ideas are revolutionary. The Lean Farm is one of the most original and innovative books on food and farming to come out in the last decade.

Steve Hallett , professor of horticulture, Purdue University,
and author of Life without Oil and The Efficiency Trap

Chelsea Green Publishing
White River Junction, Vermont

Copyright 2015 by Ben Hartman.
All rights reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all photographs by Clay Bottom Farm.
Illustrations by Emma Gerigscott.

No part of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form by any means without permission in writing from the publisher.

Project Manager: Bill Bokermann
Project Editor: Benjamin Watson
Copy Editor: Alice Colwell
Proofreader: Helen Walden
Indexer: Lee Lawton
Designer: Melissa Jacobson

Printed in the United States of America.
First printing August, 2015.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 15 16 17 18

Our Commitment to Green Publishing
Chelsea Green sees publishing as a tool for cultural change and ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book manufacturing practices with our editorial mission and to reduce the impact of our business enterprise in the environment. We print our books and catalogs on chlorine-free recycled paper, using vegetable-based inks whenever possible. This book may cost slightly more because it was printed on paper that contains recycled fiber, and we hope youll agree that its worth it. Chelsea Green is a member of the Green Press Initiative ( www.greenpressinitiative.org ), a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufacturers, and authors working to protect the worlds endangered forests and conserve natural resources. The Lean Farm was printed on paper supplied by QuadGraphics that contains at least 10% postconsumer recycled fiber.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hartman, Ben, 1978- author.

The lean farm : how to minimize waste, increase efficiency, and maximize value and profits with less work / Ben Hartman ; illustrations by Emma Gerigscott.

pages cm

Other title: How to minimize waste, increase efficiency, and maximize value and profits with less work

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-60358-592-7 (pbk.) ISBN 978-1-60358-593-4 (ebook)

1. AgricultureWaste minimization. 2. Lean manufacturing. I. Title. II. Title: How to minimize waste, increase efficiency, and maximize value and profits with less work.

TD930.H37 2015
628'.746dc23

2015015957

Chelsea Green Publishing
85 North Main Street, Suite 120
White River Junction, VT 05001
(802) 295-6300
www.chelseagreen.com

Contents

Clay Bottom Farm.

Acknowledgments

This book would not have been possible without contributions from many people. First, I thank Steve Brenneman, CEO and founder of Aluminum Trailer Company, Nappanee, Indiana, and a Clay Bottom Farm customer, who introduced us to lean concepts and who generously consulted with us for several years as we steadily implemented lean on our farm.

In October 2014 I met in Chicago with Susanne Pejstrup, a lean coach from Denmark who for many years has worked with farmers in Scandinavia, other parts of Europe, and Asia to implement lean systems on their farms. She described to me lean systems in use on these farms and contributed photos that enrich this book. Thank you.

Likewise, I thank the farmers who contributed photos and allowed me to interview them about how they employ lean: Pete Johnson at Petes Greens, Craftsbury, Vermont; Randy Ewert at Bair Lane Farm, Marcellus, Michigan; and Steve Lecklider at Lehmans Orchard, Niles, Michigan, among others. The diversity and success of their operations is living proof that lean concepts can benefit all types and sizes of farms.