Today was our first full day in Rotterdam, and we spent the morning visiting the world’s first floating farm. This farm is entirely on the water, and only has 2 removable bridges that connect it to land. They had cows, crops in the basement, and a cheese making area. They supply local markets with the goods they produce, and they just became profitable this year. Their goal is to create more farms in the future. This would expand the amount of territory that could be used to farm by a ton. Cities that are on a large body of water could benefit by having farms on the water that could supply the freshest goods to the people there, especially in a state of emergency where it is hard to transport food into the city. Dairy is also very important to Dutch culture, as cows are seen all throughout the landscape. Cheese and milk are extremely common, and the Netherlands is known for them.

Later in the day we visited RDM, a place where small, innovative startups can lease space and begin work on their projects. It used to be an old shipyard, but after the port saw less and less use, they converted it into space for the startups. The coolest company we saw was called Paebbl. They created a material similar to concrete which would trap CO2 when it is produced, making it a much more sustainable alternative. This could be the future of construction materials, especially in a time where we want to minimize the CO2 in the atmosphere.