5/22/25

Today, we had the opportunity to tour the floating farm which (as one may guess) is a farm that is floating on the water.

As with any farm, the floating farm had to consider a path to make themselves a sustainable place. One stride they make towards sustainability is utilizing food that would otherwise be wasted as food for the cattle. They source their food from food returns from supermarkets and beer grain.

Additionally, manure and urine is collected by a robot. The collected waste is then separated (one section for manure and one for urine). The urine is then filtered and used as water to hydrate the crops on the farm, and the manure is used as fertilizer. By doing this, the floating farm ensures even animal waste isn’t wasted.

Another inherently sustainable part of the floating farm is their ability to be close to the end consumer. By floating, they are able to convert unused space into sustainable farming land. Additionally, they focus on educating others about their farm and general farming practices which is sustainable by promoting the next generation of sustainable farmers.

They also informed us that they hope to create a floating vegetable farm in the future.

After touring the floating farm, we visited RDM which is a collaborative research facility for students, the university of Rotterdam, and businesses. Their mission statement is to build a sustainable future, so they only accept projects into their spaces that align with this. In fact, they will provide the space free of charge to projects they find to be especially compelling.

This facility is built on connections between each other and is a very collaborative community. One interesting project we saw was “Coastruction” whose owner has designed printable coral reef to help replace the damaged coral reefs.

All in all, today was a wonderful day oriented around creating a sustainable future through agriculture and research.