Additional Lean Environmental and Energy Practices ◾ 173
In addition, most farms in North America have only one growing season,
which translates into waste of the time of things, specifically capital assets
for which paying work is available.
The first thought that comes to mind is the hydroponic farm, which
can recycle both water and nutrients. The greenhouse environment also
protects the crops from droughts, frosts, and similar disasters that can
wipe out a harvest, and it can operate year round. The primary drawback
appears to be that a catastrophic failure in the hydroponic system itself
could wipe out the entire harvest, although this risk can probably be man-
aged with redundant systems, uninterruptable power supplies, and so on.
Goth