Home » Market Vegetables » KPI 1-Labour hours/acre or bed

Why it’s Important

Labour is often one of the largest, if not the largest, expense for market vegetable growers, so tracking this input and making changes can have significant impact on your cost of production.

Lets get started

Use the worksheet below to track your labour costs by crop acre or by bed. Check how you’d like to track labour:

Download

Making Improvements

Standardize tasks as much as possible. Predictable work is easy to perform efficiently because workers can find a rhythm and more easily spot waste and identify improvements. Tasks that are not standardized are generally less efficient because there is usually less rhythm and more mistakes leading to higher costs. If you’re thinking of hiring help, consider how standard operating procedures will help with training new hires.

Based on your hours/acre or /bed, which crops have the highest labour input?

Key things to consider for reducing labour inefficiencies include:

Value-added activities versus non-value added activities. When it comes to lean, there are only three types of activities on a farm operation¹:
- Actions that add value (e.g. planting, harvesting, washing)
- Actions that do not add value but are necessary (e.g. preparing soil, delivering, weeding)
- Pure waste (e.g. packaging more than necessary)

According to Ben Hartman, author of The Lean Farm, your goal should be to move as many activities as possible into category 1 – actions that add value – minimize actions that do not add value but are necessary, and completely eliminate actions that do not add value and are not necessary.

Standardize tasks as much as possible. Predictable work is easy to perform efficiently because workers can find a rhythm and more easily spot waste and identify improvements. Tasks that are not standardized are generally less efficient because there is usually less rhythm and more mistakes leading to higher costs. If you’re thinking of hiring help, consider how standard operating procedures will help with training new hires.
Minimize moves. For example, it is more efficient to process a product in the field (where applicable food safety regulations allow), while it is in your hands, rather than gather up a large quantity into a pile or batch, then relocate the batch in another place for the next step. Minimizing moves involves thinking about how many times a product is put down and picked up again during processing. If you harvest and process it all in one move, you are eliminating numerous moves of picking it up and putting it back down again.
Simple technologies like installing a greenhouse mister or investing in a seeder with more hoppers can reduce labour hours spent on specific tasks, and improve product quality and consistency. Solar technology for energy systems like heating and cooling may also have applications.

Simple technologies like installing a greenhouse mister or investing in a seeder with more hoppers can reduce labour hours.

Tools such as bar-code scanners and radiofrequency identification tags can reduce error and eliminate the need to manually input sales and inventory records.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems are multi-purpose software that will integrate and manage key business functions. ERP systems will handle accounting, customer relationship management, inventory, and human resources functions, helping save money and time.
Making the right technology investments takes planning. Make purchases as part of a business strategy. Purchase equipment or technology that fit the needs of your farm and help reduce labour or other waste. Equipment that is too large or expensive is wasteful and may require burdensome training for workers.

Cost share funding for equipment: https://www.ontariosoilcrop.org/canadian-agricultural-partnership/

The best way to systematically reduce loss and waste and minimize non-productive activities is through a five step Lean process:

Identify Value: Identify the key activities or processes on your market vegetable operation where value is created. What is a GEMBA Walk?
What is a GEMBA Walk?
GEMBA is a Japanese term referring to the place where value is created. Take a Gemba Walk on your farm. Observe the key activities or processes on your farm as a by-stander. Take a fresh look at how you do things. Don’t get involved in the process, just walk around and watch how it is done. Then, talk to those involved and discuss what you see.
Map the Value Stream: Identify all steps in the value stream for this activity or process so that you can fully understand how your farm is operating today.
Create consistent flow: Count or measure what is involved in every step of the process in the value stream map or process list.
Identify Solutions: Use Lean tools to assess key processes on your farm and identify solutions to remove loss, remove waste, reduce time and improve safety.
Strive for Perfection: Sustain the gain and strive for a continuous improvement culture. Use the Worksheet to apply this five step process to your farm.

Goal Setting

Set a Goal for Improvement:

The “golden rule” of farm management: a 5% improvement in productivity, plus a 5% increase from marketing savviness, plus a 5% gain in efficiency (lowered production costs) equals a 117% improvement to the bottom line.²

Please create an account to access the goal setting section. This will allow you to login at anytime in the future so you can evaluate how you’ve progressed. You will be given examples of steps you can take to help reach your goal, and will have the opportunity to indicate what your steps will be. Be sure to upload your completed KPI forms in order to access them in the future.

¹ Ben Hartman, The Lean Farm

² https://www.fcc-fac.ca/en/ag-knowledge/ag-economics/to-stay-competitive-use-the-5-per-cent-rule.html

“Simple technology like putting a misting system in your greenhouse so you don’t have to spend 2 hours per day in the spring to water can have a big impact”
– Amanda Bilek, Owner
Chilligo Creek Farm

“Even something simple like adding wheels to greenhouse tables can save on labour. The tables can be rolled outside for hardening off in the spring, instead of carrying trays out individually.”
– Amanda Bilek, Owner
Chilligo Creek Farm

“Look at the weather forecast for market day. If it’s going to rain all day on Saturday, sales will go down. If you can, delay harvesting and bring less product to the market that day.”
– Amanda Bilek, Owner
Chilligo Creek Farm

“Recent research on processing tomatoes in Ontario has shown yield increases of up to 81% on a range of soil types with the use of properly scheduled irrigation.”
– OMAFRA

“It’s very important to measure water use. Few irrigators use flow meters to track their water use. The natural tendency of growers in Ontario is to under irrigate. When growers do a better job of tracking water use, they tend to use more water but productivity increases. So amount of water used per unit produced may actually decrease.”
– Rebecca Shortt Engineer, Water Quantity, OMAFRA