{"id":3760,"date":"2018-07-10T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-07-10T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost:10003\/the-lean-post\/articles\/tending-the-roots-of-lean-with-lean-farmer-ben-hartman\/"},"modified":"2021-10-14T09:34:32","modified_gmt":"2021-10-14T13:34:32","slug":"tending-the-roots-of-lean-with-lean-farmer-ben-hartman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lean.org\/the-lean-post\/articles\/tending-the-roots-of-lean-with-lean-farmer-ben-hartman\/","title":{"rendered":"Tending the Roots of Lean with Lean Farmer Ben Hartman"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two years ago, Jim Womack visited Ben Hartman<\/a>, a farmer in Goshen, Indiana, who has been applying lean thinking to his Clay Bottom Farm<\/a>. Since then, Ben has written two books on lean farming, shared his ideas at a number of conferences – including LEI\u2019s! – and is now developing online classes to spread his ideas faster and further. Oh, and he still farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ben’s farm vividly illustrates the power of lean applied to specific, local, vital businesses. Since his exposure to lean, Ben has zealously sought to eliminate waste while providing more value to his local customers, and to create a more sustainable enterprise that supports healthier eating. His lean work has boosted yield per square foot, dramatically reduced the amount of “shrink” (wasted crops), cut down he and his wife’s weekly work hours, and allowed him to avoid the pressure to grow his farm. Additionally, Ben has begun to spread lean thinking to his community in and around Goshen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recently, Ben and his wife, Rachel, welcomed my colleague, Josh Howell, and me to his Lean Farm to show us the operation. The images depict a series of kaizen that have radically improved the farm\u2019s productivity. To learn more about Ben and Lean Farming, check out his books The <\/em>Lean Farm<\/em><\/a> and The Lean Farm Guide to Growing Vegetables.<\/em><\/a>\u00a0You can also read other Posts<\/a> and articles<\/a> on his work.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Seeding and Propagation – Kaizen Result: 20 minutes to 30 seconds <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ben holds the Paper Pot planter<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>The foundation of Ben\u2019s seeding, propagation, and transplanting system is a product called Paper Pot. It is manufactured in Japan, but recently found its way to the United States after a University of Wisconsin professor of agriculture stumbled upon in Japan. The Paper Pot is made of paper cells glued together in a honeycomb shape. Each holds one seed. Depending on the crop, a single honeycomb can hold 264 seeds – just more than twice as many seeds as the much larger plastic cells typically used in the U.S. More seeds in less space means Ben\u2019s propagation house – an expensive piece of real estate due to material and heating requirements – can produce a large number of transplants in a small space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cells are loaded into a tray and filled with soil, then stamped with a mold to create 264 dimples for seeds to settle. A plastic tray with 264 dimples aligned with the soil stamps is placed on top and seeds are shaken through the dimples filling each stamp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Paper Pot transplant system has sped seeding time by 40x! It previously took Ben approximately 20 minutes to seed the same number of cells. It currently takes 30 seconds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Each of these 264 cells with be filled with soil and a seed.<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

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This plastic frame will guide one seed into each individual cell.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>Transplanting – Kaizen Result: 45 minutes to 51 seconds<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crops propagate for about two weeks inside the honeycomb cells before Ben transplants them to his field. The honeycomb shape is unraveled into a linear chain, which is then loaded into the Paper Pot transplanter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we asked Ben how he decides where to plant a crop he provided a simple response, \u201cI want to keep my field full. So I till whatever I\u2019ve just harvested and fill it right back up.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having identified an open row, we observed Ben drag the Paper Pot transplanter in a perfectly straight line. The tool tills a trench for the transplant to settle and pushes soil back over it to secure it into the ground. Because the cells are chained together one falls in after the other. Moreover, the cells are spaced tightly, so he can plant more crops in less space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Transplanting time reduced from 45 minutes to 51 seconds.<\/em> <\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/span>It took Ben 51 seconds to transplant a row of 264 golden beets. Previously, he estimates it took him 45 minutes to do the same amount of work. All told, Ben transplanted 8 chains, totaling 2,112 plants in 90 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n