The floating dairy farm in the Netherlands has changed course again, with its owners calling off a sale and moving the cows to nearby farms while keeping milk and dairy production going.
The farm was originally designed to show how food could be produced sustainably at a new scale. It was the idea of Peter and Minke van Wingerden, who invested €4 million in the project. It opened in May 2019 in the Port of Rotterdam with on-site feeding, milking, slurry and dairy production facilities. The aim was to produce food without the traditional tie to land.
Recently, the owners had put the farm up for sale after a dispute with the local environmental department. The department said a new floor fitted at the facility did not comply with regulations. The 28 Dutch MRI cows were taken off the farm, were going to be sold and milk production was to cease.
That plan has now changed. The farm is not being sold. The cows have been moved to several other farms about 20km away, and a vertical salad-growing enterprise is operating in the basement of the floating structure.
Peter van Wingerden said milk and other dairy production are continuing and the vertical farm is performing well. “We have another big change of plans here. Our cows have been transported to a few different farms near us,” he said.
He said the farm has the lowest possible emissions because of its modern technology and systems, but the rubber floor is German and has no certificate of compliance in the Netherlands. He also said a stainless steel pipeline runs from the quay to the farm, and a regular dairy truck brings milk from the dairy twice a week, at about 1,500 litres per batch.
According to van Wingerden, the floating farm will have to leave the port in just over two years because the entire area is to become residential. “This is not the vision we initially started off with, but we are coping with this system,” he said. The milk supplier is 20km away, which he said gives a very short transport time.
Vertical growing below the waterline
The vertical farm is a fully controlled, automated growing space for crops. It has three layers with conveyor belts and combines grow-room and warehouse technology.
- Microgreens are harvested every two weeks.
- Herbs are harvested every three weeks.
- Leafy greens are harvested every four weeks.
- Edible flowers are harvested every four to five weeks.
The business turns the crops into tea, pesto, herb-infused salts and herb-infused whey, alongside its Parmigiano cheese. The vertical unit sits below the waterline in the current floating farm, so it is cooled by the water. “It is going really well,” van Wingerden said.
During its operation in the port, the farm produced milk and dairy products for local consumers, who could buy them from vending machines at the site. The concept attracted hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world who came to see the cows at work. With the cows now on nearby farms and the sale called off, the floating structure is continuing with dairy production and vertical crop production.