A change of scenery was our first order of business today as we ventured outside of our usual stopping grounds in Amsterdam and headed to Rotterdam for the day. As most good stories do, our day began with a bit of a setback as we boarded the train only to find out a few moments later that it was canceled due to a person spotted on the tracks up ahead. From there, however, our day only continued upward as Sophia quickly found an alternative route and we continued on with our scheduled events, undergoing only a slight delay. Upon arrival the group made a quick pit stop at our residence for the night in Rotterdam to drop off our bags before finally making our way to the company visit of the day with Floating Farm.
As we approached the farm I admittedly had my initial doubts. To my surprise the company’s entrance was located in a fairly busy region of the city, surrounded by residential areas and only a short walking distance from our tram stop. In my experience farms in the U.S. are usually surrounded by nothing but more farmland, or just land in general for that matter. Instead, this particular farm had the unique quality of being surrounded entirely by water. I was eager to see the actual operations of the farm, but we began instead with a presentation from one of the founders, Minke, about the initial purpose of the farm’s development, how their operation is run, and their outlook for future implementation. The hope is that as urbanization becomes increasingly widespread, cities can become self-sufficient with fully functional farming on their waterways, rather than having to outsource food products from distant locations.
Following this explanation, we ventured over to the farm, a two-story floating structure seemingly straight out of a futuristic fantasy film. The bottom level contained the milk collection tank, a stack of hay, and some office space for those working on the farm, while the top level housed the cows. Minke informed us that just twenty cows are currently raised on the farm, each of whom are milked twice daily for a total of 800 liters of production each day, or about forty liters daily for each individual animal. This is considered to be a relatively small herd size, but it is understandable given the experimental nature of their innovative farming style. We concluded the visit with a tasting of the cow’s yield in the small shipping container turned building where the farm sells their dairy products and a small amount of produce.
The night concluded with some fun and delicious group bonding. Our cruise of the Rotterdam harbor gave us a behind the scenes look at some of the industrial warehouses located around the water, and Antoinette provided some yacht rock via Spotify to complete the experience. We finished the night off with a group dinner at Bazar, which was unanimously our favorite meal of the trip so far. The family style dishes made for great conversation among the group and was the perfect cap on an exciting and educational day.