Today we went into Rotterdam to visit the floating farm and go on a river cruise!
After some delays at Amsterdam Centraal station, we made our voyage to the city of Rotterdam by train. The city was decimated during World War II and rebuilt after the war, so the architecture of the city differs from that of Amsterdam. In fact, Rotterdam was more reminiscent of cities in the United States due to more skyscrapers and modern buildings. We checked into the hostel and went out for lunch in the area, which may or may not have consisted of Subway due to time constraints.
We traveled by tram to Floating Farm* and met with Minke Van Wingerden, one of the partners of the company. The company was founded due to the food shortage in New York City after Hurricane Sandy. Minke explained access to fresh food in urban areas would not be limited in crises if farms were able to exist closer to a city. Thus, the idea for Floating Farm was born; the name of the company explains its purpose, a farm that floats on water.
At the moment, the only floating farm in existence is the cattle farm, which can house around 40 cows. The cattle farm is powered by floating solar panels adjacent to the farm, has a manure cleaner (which is essentially a Roomba), and an automatic milking station. A majority of the technical equipment, and even an office space, exists below the cattle (since the farm is two stories). The cows are fed with feed donated by local businesses, like leftover beer kernels, which allows Floating Farm to allocate less money toward cattle feed than what would otherwise be necessary. Cow manure is collected and filtered into fertilizer pellets or purified to be released into the sewer. Ideally, Minke explained, the company will expand into other cities and create a vegetable farm and a chicken farm.
Minke further explained the circular supply chain that the company plans to implement in the future. Rather than releasing purified manure into the sewer system, Floating Farm would like to purify the leftover manure even further to generate irrigation water for a vegetable farm. Therefore, one of the products of the cattle farm, manure, would become a supplier for the vegetable farm. In return, the vegetable farm would provide the cattle with nutrient-rich food that Floating Farm currently has to buy because not all of the donations provide ample nutrients for the cows. In this ideal future, Floating Farm would become a self-sufficient supplier and producer of both dairy products and vegetables.
Once we got to sample cheese and milk created from the cattle living on the floating farm, we went to our next destination: a river cruise. We arrived at the cruise early, so there was time for us to explore the city of Rotterdam for an hour. Some friends and I got a brief afternoon snack (a huge pizza which I thought would be a panini) and quickly made our way back toward the cruise. The cruise was very relaxing since we got to sightsee parts of the city and learn more about the seaport in Rotterdam, which is the largest seaport in Europe. Dinner tonight was comprised of amazing kebabs and fries at a local restaurant.
Tomorrow we will have the chance to learn more about the history of floods and flood prevention in the Netherlands.
*When in all caps (Floating Farms) I am referencing the company as a whole and when in lowercase (floating farm) I am referring to the farm as a noun.