I am sad to say this is our last day in The Netherlands! I am extremely sad, but, I have made great friends and I am so greatful for this experience. Now, let’s get down to business… literately.
We started off our day with a tour of the floating farm! It is the first one in the world, and it was inspired by hurricane Sandy. The owners were in New York when it happened, and with the scarce resources after, they wanted to find a way to always provide fresh food in the city. With difficult circumstances such as population growth, urbanization, climate change, and lots of waste, they decided that creating a floating farm would be the best way to combat issues at hand. The floating farm is close to the city, acts as an innovation lab, transparent with their goals, and more.
The platform itself is very large and is completely stable because there are two drilled spud piles in the bottom. On the second floor of the farm are the cows, and they can hold up to fifty. The farm has a ramp for the cows to come down and roam in the open grass area when they please, and is only gated when the weather is too dangerous.
The benefits of this farm allow for more available space, specifically on water. There are also no consequences from floods, they produce a lot closer to the customer, there are less carbon dioxide emissions, and the cows eat food returns from the city. Our guide explained that the delivery time for most of their customers is around 10 minutes, which directly applies to our class concept, concept to consumer. With close proximity, it is a lot easier to provide products to costumers in a efficient way.
They are also extremely sustainable! The cows eat food waste from the city, which is common amongst most cattle. Food from the city goes to the cows, cows make the milk, and the milk goes to the customers in the city. They also have a robot that collects the cows urine and manure, which is then filtered. The urine is fed back to the cows, and the manure is made into fertilizer for plants, or even into chairs, similar to what they did in Cacao and Spice with the outside of the bean. The manure can be made into brick like structures, which they are hoping can be used to make houses in the future. Lastly, they use solar panels to power the farm. These are currently sitting on the water, but with the addition of their floating vegetable farm in the future, they will be moved on top of the building.
The floating farm is one of my favorite companies we visited because I felt like I had a clear vision of how they got their product to the consumers. We were able to look at the cows, their dairy production area, and their small market where we had a cheese and milk tasting- it was delicious. That being said, they are an extremely efficient company, and it was super interesting to see how engineering and business practices meshed so well. I wonder if they are going to produce for larger companies such as Henri Willig in the future!
Our day did not end here! After a quick lunch, we headed to RDM, and I was blown away. RDM focuses on innovation for the future. They help businesses and students create new things that align with their goals, by giving them work spaces, resources, and funding opportunities. My favorite company we saw was Coastruction. Their goal is to help the coral reefs, and they do so by using a powder 3D printer. They use sand and a liquid to bind it, and add another adhesive. Normally they would use concrete or cement, but it is not environmentally friendly. The sand used to create the coral allows organisms to recognize their habitats in hope they will grow on them, which in turn, will help save the ocean! There were companies that had similar concepts to them, but made the coral like structures for indoors. We also had the chance to learn about new transportation methods that are being created there, drones, and 3D printed structures made out of metal. I was blown away! It reminded me a lot of the Guinness Enterprise Center in Ireland.
We are about to head to our farewell dinner, and I am so sad. This trip has been amazing from the people to the experiences. I cannot wait to see everyone back at Pitt, and H2P! Jules, signing off.