We started the day by packing up our things and traveling to Rotterdam by train! Rotterdam is a major port city in the Dutch province of South Holland. Sophia, one of our CIEE guides, explained that the city had been bombed during the second world war and had to be completely rebuilt from scratch. The first thing I noticed when arriving in the city was that the architecture was much larger and more modern than the architecture in Amsterdam. Amsterdam is crowded with tiny cafes and coffee shops whereas Rotterdam was filled by incredibly large modern restaurants with massively high ceilings and modern minimalist designs.
After arriving in the city, we walked to our new hostel for the night: A&O Hostel. I am incredibly grateful to be staying here- our room is much bigger and nicer than our hostel in Amsterdam! Because of our delay due to train complications, we quickly dropped off our bags and headed to our daily site visit. We explored Floating Farm, a company that created the first ever floating farm in an effort to create a sustainable farming alternative. Fresh products are produced at the farm daily in a sustainable, circular, and animal-friendly way. The Van Wingerden family founded the company in response to the increasingly critical challenge that population growth poses to the farming industry. During a presentation by one of the founders, it was explained that as populations grow and construction projects are enacted to meet increasing demand, less and less agricultural land is available for producing food. It was amazing to learn about and see the Floating Farm solution.
After the presentation, we walked outside and climbed a platform to a multilevel facility floating on water. This building was utilized to feed and house cattle while advanced robots actively separated and processed fertilizer and dairy products. The technology was amazing to see, I never thought I’d pet cows on a floating farm. Throughout the visit, the founders emphasized the importance of prioritizing sustainability within the agricultural and farming industry in order to sustain nutritional benefit for future generations.