Lean manufacturing to lean agriculture: It's about time

Lean principles were originally developed in manufacturing as a set of tools and techniques that could eliminate waste from the production process. Lean techniques have then moved from manufacturing plants to all kinds of operations, such as insurance, healthcare, government and non-profit. However, there has been little literature and understanding of lean in the context of agriculture and farming so far. It is high time that lean is introduced in agriculture given the magnitude of waste and losses in that field. Lean in agriculture provides a different set of challenges due to seasonal variability, bulk production, processing and problems in handling and storage. This is a conceptual paper which intends to identify and categorize lean waste (popularly known as seven deadly wastes). Moreover, before implementing lean, it is vital to identify the readiness factors in order to see if farms and farmers are up to such quality improvement methods. A readiness index has been created based on the operations management literature.