Day Thirteen, our final day in the Netherlands, began at 7:15 AM. I got about five hours of sleep to start the day but didn’t feel particularly tired. We took a wet morning walk to Rotterdam Centraal to catch the tram out to the Floating Farm. At the Floating Farm, we got an overview of the facility, learned of the challenges of a floating farm, and the ultimate goal of the project. We were then given a tour of the facility, and had the opportunity to support the project monetarily through purchases at the shop. I ended up buying a massive 750 ml bottle of fresh milk for only €1.75, and have until tomorrow morning to finish it. The hosts were also kind enough to let our class try some of their fresh cheese, and we ended off the site visit with a look at their calf care facility. We then split into two groups, and I returned to the hotel to get some rest before the next activity. We all left the hotel together again around 2:00 PM, and walked to Stadhuis metro station. We travelled down to Slinge station, where we changed for a bus to RDM Rotterdam. At RDM Rotterdam, we got another tour, and had the opportunity to look around at the different projects taking place on the docks. Our guide at RDM Rotterdam also went over some history of the area, and explained how the facility slowly morphed into what it was today. The return trip back to the hotel hit trouble, when there was a traffic jam, both on the road to the station and on the metro itself! We finally made it back to the hotel for another quick break, before heading back out onto the tram for Beurs. For our final night in Holland, we were treated to a delicious dinner at Vessel 11 in Wijnhaven. We then returned to the hotel, and packed in preparation for the return flight back to the United States.

One factor of the Floating Farm that interested me was the business aspect of the operation, which was not discussed much during the visit. The Floating Farm is a new concept that brings fresh dairy products closer to consumers in the city. The Floating Farm in Rotterdam is the first of its kind in the world, and it is somewhat still experimental. The Floating Farm is a “floating” (floating as in it has vertical motion, but cannot move along the water) multi-level platform in Merwehaven in Rotterdam, which houses about 35 cows. These cows live in a stable on the second level of the farm, but have ramp access down to a small grass field on land. The cows are fed food waste from the city, and their manure and fluid waste are recycled into fertilizer and agricultural water. Despite widespread automation in the farm, the initial startup cost and the cost of maintenance make profitability an uphill battle. After talking directly with our guide, he revealed to me that the Floating Farm has not yet achieved profitability, but in 2023 they almost reached the break-even point. While most of the Floating Farm’s revenue comes from Business-to-Business transactions, they have found it hard to produce at a scale on which they can turn a profit. Our host was confident that by scaling up operations (for example, by adding another floating farm), the business would pass the break-even point. Currently, the Floating Farm also has plans to add a new floating vegetable farm which will utilize cow waste to grow crops. However, as a business, I would first focus on turning a profit on the cow farm to prove that the concept works, and to create a plan for scalability that can be implemented further down the line. That being said, I still do think that the floating vegetable farm is a concept that is worth exploring.

One unique aspect of many of the projects that were shown to us at RDM Rotterdam was the focus on sustainability that is not often seen in the United States. Within the RDM Campus section of the Innovation Dock where students were working on projects, many of them were ones which had sustainability at the forefront of their plans. For example, a project that our guide pointed out to us was a vehicle that a group of students were designing for the Shell Eco-marathon in France. Unlike traditional races where the goal was to build the fastest car, this was a competition that pushed students to build the most efficient vehicles that could travel the furthest distances. This spin on a traditional “race” was interesting to me, and shows that even large oil companies are looking at environmentally friendly technologies for the future. The “business” portion of the Innovation Dock was equally as fascinating to me, and left most of the class in complete awe. RDM Rotterdam has a program that allows small businesses and start-ups to rent out space within the Innovation Dock, where they can set up shop. The benefit of this is that businesses can interact directly with each other, and the Rotterdam Port Authority also can assist businesses that align with their own goals. Many of the businesses within the Innovation Dock were also sustainability-focused, and sharing a facility allows these businesses to assist each other in furthering a general sustainability agenda. As an example, there was a company called Urban Reefs which 3D prints “Reefs” that are made of renewable materials, but a major problem for them was that the printing process still required concrete and cement. Concrete is often not sustanability made, and it undermines the mission statement of their company. A solution to this problem appeared within RDM Rotterdam, where another start-up was exploring cement and concrete substitutes made of renewable and sustaninable materials. Together, they have formed a partnership to each help each other in fulfilling their goals. This sort of cooperation is made easier in a close-working enviornment like the one in the Innovation Dock at RDM Rotterdam.

This trip to the Netherlands has been beyond incredible, and I am so grateful that I was given such a unique opportunity. I want to thank Frank and Dr. Bursic, as well as our local guide Raha for taking us through the Netherlands. I’ll carry the lessons I learned on this trip with me into my career, and I definitely need to come back to the Netherlands in the future!