Toward sustainable primary production through the application of lean management in South African fruit horticulture.

This paper aims to understand the relationship between patterns of lean practice implementation, farm size and sustainable performance among fruit horticultural primary producers in South Africa. Utilizing a comprehensive lean framework, addressing 10 lean practice dimensions, the authors collected data from a sample of 132 fruit farming operations in South Africa. First, cluster analysis was applied to identify distinct clusters of farms with common lean practice implementation characteristics. Next, the distinct clusters were tested to identify significant differences in lean practice implementation and sustainable performance, with farm size incorporate as a control variable. In terms of common lean implementation characteristics, the analysis identified two distinct clusters of farms, labelled as the high lean practice cluster and the low lean practice cluster. It is determined that these two clusters differ significantly in practice implementation across all 10 dimension of lean management practice. It is further established that the two clusters differ significantly in terms of sustainable performance. Furthermore, farm size is found to significantly differentiate (i) lean practice implementation across 5 of the 10 lean practice dimensions and (ii) levels of sustainable performance between medium and large sized farms. This empirical analyses of lean practices and sustainable performance outcomes in the primary production domain represents a novel contribution to the existing literature on lean management and horticultural management. • Lean management practice implementation is a determinant of sustainable performance in horticultural primary production. • Farm size supports sustainable performance outcomes, but the effects are only significant for relatively larger farming operations. • Farm size significantly influences lean implementation, but only for 5 of the 10 lean practice dimensions considered. • The findings allude to a set of market leading growers, who operate at a higher degree of lean managerial professionalism than the general population of primary producers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]