Floating farm - The future of the Dutch livestock industry

As one of the world's "lowest" countries, the Netherlands is developing a floating farm model as a way to adapt to climate change.

In the port city of Rotterdam , where land is scarce and climate change is a daily threat, a three-story cow farm with a combined steel and glass structure rises just above the water, next to cranes and container, seen as the future of the Dutch livestock industry.

A floating dairy farm in Rotterdam, southwestern Netherlands. (Photo: AFP)

The cows live upstairs. Their milk is processed into cheese, yogurt and butter in the middle layer, while the cheese continues to be cooked on the bottom layer.

"The world is under a lot of pressure. So we want to develop a sustainable farm model that is self-sufficient as much as possible," said Minke van Wingerden, 60, who runs the farm. with her husband, Peter, told AFP .

With the first floating farm, going into operation in 2019, Peter and Minke want to "bring the countryside into town" , raise consumer awareness and expand the agricultural space.

The farm can rise and fall with the tide. (Photo: AFP)

The Dutch are no strangers to advanced farming methods, such as the massive greenhouse network that has made them the world's second-largest exporter of agricultural products after the US, but that has come at a cost.

The Netherlands is currently Europe's top per capita emitter of greenhouse gases and faces a major problem with agricultural emissions, especially methane from the dairy sector.

Those emissions continue to drive sea level rise, threatening marshes and low-lying land below sea level. The result is a reduction in land in one of the most densely populated countries in the world.

"With the platform floating on the water, the farm can rise and fall by two meters with the tide. So
in the event of a flood we can still continue to produce," added Mike. "Cows don't get seasick. The water moves just a little bit like you're on a cruise ship."

Cows are fed from locally available sources. (Photo: AFP)

The cows on the farm are supplied with a feed mix that includes grapes from a grocer, grain from a brewery and grass from local golf courses and from Rotterdam's famous Feyenoord football club - help reduce waste and emissions.

Cow dung is used as fertilizer, while urine is filtered and recycled into drinking water for the livestock. The farm is also self-sufficient in electricity thanks to dozens of solar panels.

The final dairy products are sold at a roadside establishment as well as supplied to chain restaurants in the city.

Peter and Minke plan to build a second floating farm in the Netherlands to grow vegetables and "export" their idea with another project underway in Singapore. This makes a lot of sense because farming makes the planet greener, while the livestock industry does not.