About this item
"Ben Hartman is a true innovator for the small farm." -- Curtis Stone, author of The Urban FarmerIt's time to think big about small farms. Award-winning author and "green leader" (Grist) Ben Hartman shares practical how-to tips, personal stories, and surprising examples of cutting-edge farmers and innovators around the world to show us how.In the early 1970s, US Agriculture Secretary Earl Butz infamously commanded farmers to "get big or get out." In The Lean Micro Farm, author Ben Hartman rejects that disastrous suggestion and instead takes up the charge of the late agrarian thinker Gene Logsdon: "Get small and stay in."Taking inspiration from the groundbreaking ideas of E. F. Schumacher and Mahatma Gandhi, The Lean Micro Farm shows how small, hyperlocal farms can be both ecologically and economically superior to industrial-scale operations geared toward export and commodity markets.
About the Author
Ben Hartman (b. 1978) grew up in LaGrange County, Indiana, on a corn and soybean farm. After graduating from Goshen College (Goshen, IN) with degrees in English and Philosophy, he lived and grew vegetables on several farms before starting Clay Bottom Farm (Goshen) with his wife, Rachel Hershberger, in 2006. He contributes regularly to Growing for Market magazine. Clay Bottom Farm is recognized as a pioneer in employing the lean production system in a farm context. His first book, The Lean Farm, was published in 2015. The farm has twice won edible Michiana's Reader's Choice Award. When he is not farming or writing, Hartman enjoys camping along with coast of Michigan with his family.
