Today was our last day here in The Netherlands. We started off by visiting our final two companies: Floating Farm and RDM. The Floating Farm is a barge on water that is three levels that are a cowshed, production of products, and a basement for vegetable growing. We had a briefing and the is the first and only floating farm and you can see how much effort they put into being sustainable. They have solar panels that power about 65% of the farm, rainwater collection, feeding for cows made by excess food of supermarkets and beer grain, and many other things that are still in the works. They even have a robot that separates the cow urine and manure to prevent it mixing and making ammonia, so instead they make fertilizer from them. We then got to see everything firsthand, like the cows! It was so cool to see the dairy products being made as well, and the types of vegetation growing in the basement under LED light. It makes me very optimistic that there are works of a floating farm in other places than The Netherlands, possibly Singapore or Chicago! To get to RDM across the water, we took a water taxi.
Upon arriving at RDM it just looked like a normal shipping port, but it was once the largest port in Europe. We went inside this big shipping house, and it was shocking to see how big it was from the inside. This now houses a college for technology on one side, and on the other is a space for businesses to rent out. I really liked how we got to see some students walking around and see/hear the projects they were working on like woodworking. The business side was where things really started to get interesting. Any small or startup business can come here to have a place to work on projects with a heated floor, running water at the station, and a community of students and other businesses. One company called Coastruction is 3-D printing reefs/rocks to go into the sea to help fix the reefs. Other projects like a company working on a hydroloop are just getting started! RDM was truly an amazing sight to see and their efforts of community and sustainable aim for a positive future for their port and the world.
After RDM it was time to pack, then attend the farewell dinner. This was without a doubt the best dinner I have had so far and the dessert didn’t disappoint either. I was great getting to have one last dinner with my group of friends before we are off to the airport and home. To end the night on a high note, the whole entire group got together and went to karaoke, and I must say that this was the best way to end the night and the trip. Of course, our last song was Sweet Caroline! H2P!
