I am currently writing this blog post from the Schipol Airport on May 17th, but this post details our last day in Rotterdam, May 16th

Yesterday, in true Plus3 fashion, we started the day bright and early. I believe my body has adapted to the lack of sleep, and can now function off of 5 hours a night. We boarded the train, had quite a few transfers, and arrived at the Floating Farm. The Floating Farm is a first-of-its-kind multilevel platform “farm” located on the harbor between docked boats. The farm was started after the owners saw the effects of Hurricane Katrina on food supply and transportation while staying in New York City. They decided to attempt to create a localized solution and brought their idea back to their home, the Netherlands. Our presenter told us that the company does what it does to reduce food waste, reduce transport externalities, and overall improve the quality of food. The company has the goals of a circular future, growing without harming the world, to fueling the future through healthy foods. The layout of their project is a 3-story floating platform. The platform houses microgreens, a cheese factory, cattle, and solar panels. The design and idea are innovative, educational, iconic, transparent, scalable, and circular. Rotterdam is the first location, but they have projects in the works in other places such as China, Singapore, Dubai, and Chicago. They have plans to build a second floating farm, next to the original, in Rotterdam, that will be for micro greens with a market-like feel.

They place a heavy emphasis on sustainability and reuse all of the cows’ waste. The cow manure is collected and stored in a dumpster, then dried into pellets that can be used as fertilizer, or even used to create plastic-like building material. Additionally, on the topic of waste, cow urine is filtered and used to water the plants on their land. Another random thing I found interesting, is to keep the pens clean for the cows, they have a Roomba-like robot that sweeps up the excrement from the cows. There are about 30 cows currently living on the platform, but it can house 50 cows. However, for the cow’s quality of life and space concerns, the farm will never house more than 40 cows at once.

The farm had many streams of income. They not only sell their cows when they have too many, as there are baby cows at the farm, but they also sell the cows’ byproducts. The Floating Farm cows are milked according to a chip they are tagged with, that prevents over milking. The milk is then used to locally make cheese, yogurt, or other dairy products. These products are then sold in their store, on the farm, which also sells local homemade goods from other suppliers. The Floating Farm values quality and local goods, so they promote other goods that align with their mission. They transport their goods to local shops and markets as well. I found it interesting, that in terms of sustainability, plastic packaging was their best option. We learned that the amount of water required to reuse glass, along with the sanitation chemicals involved, would leave a larger negative impact on the environment, than just plastic. Cardboard was also ruled out as the amount of accidents and predicted damage would just contribute to more food waste, which is the opposite of their goals.

The Floating Farm was a very interesting visit, especially because the last place you expect cows to live is on the water, in a shipyard. They have an innovative idea that is scalable and can help solve hunger crises. In terms of “concept to consumer,” this farm does it all. They keep the supply chain short, the environmental footprint low, and make sure they deliver quality goods to their consumers. They designed their concept in a way that satisfies their ideologies and the consumer’s needs, and it’s proving to be successful.

We had about 2 hours of free time, so we went back to the hostel. I used this time very efficiently, I napped. Around 3 pm we headed out to the trains and took a very long ride to RDM. We got off our tram in yet another shipyard area.

RDM is a giant warehouse and industrial building that used to be a ship repair facility during the peak of shipping days in the Netherlands. It was formerly known as Rotterdam Dry Dock Facilities, but now is named Rotterdam Design Manufacturing. When it functioned as a ship warehouse, the company faced staffing issues as it is located in a relatively remote location. The company had to figure out how to get their workers to the warehouse. The company decided to build a development of houses next to the building. Our guide told us that his family had worked at RDM for generations and he had lived in one of these company homes. He made sure to mention that the company wanted to make these houses architecturally interesting, and quality made, to reflect the values RDM upheld. He also added that RDM had a positive reputation. If you worked at RDM, it meant you had a good job and could provide for your family. I found this interesting as it reminded me of the company, Westinghouse. Westinghouse had a heavy prevalence in Pittsburgh and revolutionized many areas of the city. Where I am from, many of the houses that are in my town are development houses from when the company was booming and needed workers to close.

During WWII, RDM was not allowed to be bombed. The occupiers used the warehouse as a headquarters and bar, while the allied forces were simultaneously in the back rooms of RDM planning. After the war, RDM began to build ships in addition to just repairing ships. Up until the 1960s, RDM had an empire, but then they had to begin to compete with cheaper countries. This caused the company to go out of business. The city Port Authority bought the warehouse and surrounding docks. They rebuilt the area as a renovated historical innovative maker studio. This new innovative studio is half design and half manufacturing. When you enter the huge building, there are maker spaces for technology, architecture, and auto-mechanics all on one side, then real-life start-ups renting space on the other side. This type of layout promotes a community that can go to each other for help and share resources.

We toured the factory space that houses the entrepreneurs. This was incredible. The Port Authority rents out plots within the factory to up-and-coming startups. For a business to secure a spot in RDM, its idea must align with the agenda of sustainable energy transition and sustainable raw material transition initiatives. Many of these companies in the space are more commercial, so the Port Authority doesn’t focus on profit, but rather on innovation and environmental impact. They feel that each plot of factory space they supply is an investment in the future. Some of the most interesting companies we viewed within the RDM warehouse include Hardt HyperLoop and Coastruction. The UT Delft University team won Elon Musk’s contest to inherit the rights to devolving the HyperLoop technology, and the team that won is not only from the Netherlands but working out of RDM. This technology is insanely cool and will revolutionize how we get around. Our guide truly believes that in 10 years this will be a highly lucrative field, and will be a main mode of transportation. I found it mind-boggling to be walking around these beginner companies that have such potential, and to have the opportunity to view them in their development stage was incredible. Another company that piqued my interest was Coastruction. This company aims to rebuild the coral reefs in areas where they are dying. They utilize a homemade powder 3D printer that creates reef-like structures using custom region-specific materials. The idea of this company is that once these “anchors” are placed in the water, the sea life will latch on and flourish, thus regrowing the ocean’s reefs.

I loved this visit as all the emerging companies were so sustainable and so interesting, and it just felt like our group was going to experience something part of a much larger initiative. This visit piqued my interest in learning more about startups, the technology behind them, and the sustainability involved in every aspect from concept to consumer.

After this visit, we had our farewell dinner on a boat, Vessel 11. The group had lovely conversations and ended the trip on such a good note! I have had such an amazing time, learned so much, and made life-long friendships.

Thank you for reading and keeping up with my journeys throughout my travels!