Today we visited The Floating Farm, a place that is very well represented by its name: a farm floating on Rotterdam harbour. This floating farm is a first of its kind prototype to a futuristic model of farming. It is made of steel and concrete and contains capacity for 40 cows, a dairy production facility, and vertical farming. We received a tour and presentation from an employee who worked for Floating Farms business and logistics who gave us a deeper look into its functioning, objectives, and future. I learned that the concept was developed as an innovative solution to the issue of land scarcity and extreme weather due to climate change. These issues pose challenges to traditional agriculture methods. In addition to being a futuristic sustainable solution, there are many sustainable strategies integrated into its day to day that create a cyclical function. For example, cows eat a diet of local food waste. Additionally, many deliveries are delivered straight to customers which cuts out many steps of the typical food production process. After the presentation we got to visit the farm and pet some cows!! We also sampled some fantastic and fresh milk and cheese.
Later in the day we visited RDM Rotterdam, an old shipyard converted into an industrial complex for both local engineering students and innovative startups to develop their projects and businesses. The concept of the facility is to connect students and industry in efforts of stimulating sustainable innovations. The criteria for businesses is energy transition, cyclical material development, and offshore/maritime themes. One company we learned about was Urban Reef, a company that 3d prints coral reefs that can be used to repair damaged reefs. Another company made 3d printers that can print metal, a critical tool in seaship and submarine construction. An innovation I found especially interesting was drones that are used for inspecting industrial plants. The drones take thousands of pictures of the site to construct a 3d model, and the AI can go through the model to identify the site for abnormalities. I think this is a really cool innovation because safety inspections are so important, but also extremely time consuming and recourse intensive. It was not an area of innovation I would ever consider, but once I heard it I immediately understood its great value. At the end of the day we had fun exploring Rotterdam City center and getting a feel for the local culture! Something I noticed was the stark contrast from Amsterdam, as Rotterdam is a much more modernly designed city. The history behind this is as a result of it being heavily targeted by airstrikes during WWII, prompting a total reconstruction after the war.
