CASE STUDY
Harmon Kramer
London, Ohio | Lightning Weeder Owner Since 2017
AT A GLANCE
Operation:
Certified organic row-crop farm, Madison County, Ohio
Scale:
700–750 acres; corn, soybeans, and wheat in thirds rotation
Crop:
Organic soybeans (food grade and feed grade), organic corn, organic wheat
Challenge:
Severe weed pressure on transitional ground—“almost as many weeds as crop”—with no chemical tools
Solution:
LASCO Lightning Weeder with Electric Discharge System (EDS)
Time Using:
~9 years (since 2017)
Units Owned:
1 active (shared with partner operation); second unit purchased and being rebuilt
The Operation
H & J Farms is a father-and-son organic operation in London, Ohio. Harmon Kramer and his son Jonathan farm between 700 and 750 acres of corn, soybeans, and wheat—all certified organic, split roughly into thirds on a structured crop rotation. They contract soybeans with two companies and sell wheat to millers and feed operations, producing both food-grade and feed-grade organic product. Jonathan learned organic farming over eight years working alongside his father-in-law, a longtime organic grower. When he got the opportunity to farm on his own, Harmon—who grew up on a small farm but had spent his career in outside sales—quit his job to join him. They formed an LLC and got to work.
The early years were lean. Neighbors asked the Kramers to transition conventional ground to organic—a three-year process during which the crop can’t command the organic premium but can’t use conventional inputs either. “We went bow and broke,” Kramer said. They got through it. More landowners came, the operation grew, and today H & J Farms coordinates closely with Jonathan’s father-in-law, who farms comparable acreage nearby. Between the two operations, they manage roughly 500 acres of organic soybeans every season—using a single Lightning Weeder.
The Challenge
“Weeds are our biggest problem,” Kramer said. That’s a statement organic farmers across the country echo: weed management is consistently identified as the most difficult and enduring production challenge in organic systems.
The ground the Kramers started with made the challenge especially acute. The previous operators had not managed weeds aggressively, and the fields were overrun. “It was almost as many weeds as crop,” Kramer recalled. In those early seasons, the Kramers did everything they could by hand—walking fields, pulling weeds, hiring crews. It was grueling, expensive, and not enough.
Their situation reflects a broader reality across Ohio agriculture. A 2025 preharvest weed survey by Ohio State University found that waterhemp—capable of producing 100,000 to one million seeds per plant—has become the most frequently encountered weed in Ohio soybean fields, with some populations resistant to as many as seven herbicide site-of-action groups. For conventional growers, the options are narrowing and the programs are growing more expensive. For an organic farmer who can’t spray at all, the challenge is even more direct. The Kramers needed a tool that could deliver reliable, repeatable weed control—and drive down the seedbank in their soil over time.
Finding the Lightning Weeder
“We were desperately trying to find something,” Kramer said. They heard about the Lightning Weeder, talked to a farmer who owned one, and leased a unit from LASCO founder Kevin Olson for their first season.
The results convinced them immediately—the Kramers treated their own fields, and neighbors saw what was happening and asked for help with theirs. “I told Kevin, we need one. We want to buy one.” LASCO delivered a reconditioned unit—the same machine the Kramers still run today, nearly a decade later. Jonathan’s father-in-law bought in as a partner, and the two operations have shared it since.
In the Field
The Kramers run the Lightning Weeder exclusively on soybeans. Their approach is built around timing: they wait until weeds have grown approximately four inches above the bean canopy, then make their first pass at 1.5 to 2 miles per hour through heavy patches, faster through cleaner stretches. After the first pass, they wait for the next flush to emerge above the canopy and come back through. They typically make two to three passes per season, sometimes four in heavier fields.
Eventually the soybean canopy closes, making it impossible to pass through with equipment. But by that point, the Lightning Weeder has done its work—reducing weed competition during the critical growth window. “If there’s no weeds, you can speed up and go down through the field and then slow down when you get through the weeds,” Kramer explained. Safety is central to operation: the system’s built-in interlock automatically shuts off when the operator exits the tractor—a feature Kramer considers essential.
The Lightning Weeder is one tool in a broader integrated system. For corn, the Kramers flame weeds with propane burners at six to seven inches tall, then follow with cultivation. For wheat, they leave straw and stubble on the field and overseed with clover—which suppresses weeds, interrupts growth cycles, and fixes nitrogen for the following corn crop. That rotation-wide approach—electrical weed control in soybeans, flame weeding in corn, cover-crop management in wheat—attacks the weed problem from every angle across the calendar year.
The Results
The transformation took time but was dramatic. In the early years, even with the Lightning Weeder, weed pressure was so severe that the Kramers continued walking fields and pulling by hand. Within two to three seasons of consistent use, the fields turned a corner. The Lightning Weeder was systematically killing weeds before they could set seed, and the cumulative effect on the soil’s weed seedbank began to show—a pattern consistent with published research demonstrating that preventing weed seed rain is the single most important factor in long-term weed management.
Today, after nearly a decade of consistent use, the Kramers don’t hand-weed at all. “We don’t hand weed anymore,” Kramer said. “This is probably the most valuable piece of equipment that we have. When you don’t take care of weeds, the weeds take the nutrients as well as your soybeans do. Your yield goes down. This weed zapper pays for itself.”
That confidence has translated into continued investment. Kramer recently purchased a second Lightning Weeder to rebuild, because for his operation, having a backup is not optional. He also describes a visible difference between his organic soil and the conventional ground across the fence—in texture, structure, and biology. “Pick up our soil, smell it, feel it,” he said. “It’s a drastic difference.”
“This is probably the most valuable piece of equipment that we have.
It’s a must-have piece of equipment.”
— Harmon Kramer, London, Ohio