By Chris McCullough

There has been another twist in the story of the floating dairy farm in The Netherlands that was originally designed to promote sustainable farming on a new scale.

Just recently the owners put the farm up for sale following a fall-out with the local environmental department after it said a new floor that had been fitted did not comply with regulations.

The 28 resident Dutch MRI cows had been taken off the farm and were going to be sold and the production of milk was going to cease.

However, as it now stands, the farm is not being sold; the cows have been moved to a few other farms around 20km away, and a vertical salad growing enterprise is located in the basement of the floating structure.

Originally, the Floating Farm was the brainchild of Peter and Minke van Wingerden who invested €4 million to create the farm with its on-site feeding, milking, slurry and dairy production facilities.

It was opened in May 2019 in the Port of Rotterdam as a futuristic solution to produce food sustainably without the traditional tie-up with land.

Throughout its operation, located in the port, the farm produced milk, and in turn, dairy produce for local consumers who were able to purchase it at the farm’s vending machines.

The concept proved very popular with hundreds of thousands of curious visitors travelling from all over the world to the port to see the cows in action.

New direction for floating farm

Peter van Wingerden has now confirmed that the production of milk and other dairy produce were continuing and that the vertical farm was performing well.

He said: “We have another big change of plans here. Our cows have been transported to a few different farms near us.

“Our farm has the lowest emissions possible due to our modern technology and system, but the rubber floor is German and has no certificate of compliance in The Netherlands.

“We installed a stainless steel pipeline from the quay to our farm. The regular dairy truck brings our milk from the dairy to use twice a week, which is approximately 1,500L per batch.”

Future

According to Peter, his Floating Farm will have to leave the port in just over two years time as the entire area will become residential.

“This is not the vision we initially started off with, but we are coping with this system," he continued.

"The distance from our milk supplier to us is just 20km, therefore has a really short transportation time."

The vertical farm is a fully controlled and automated grow space for crops with three layers with conveyor belts, a combination of a grow-room and warehouse technology.

“Four types of crops are grown in the vertical unit including micro-greens that are harvested every two weeks," Peter explained.

"Herbs are harvested every three weeks; leafy greens harvested every four weeks, and edible flowers that are harvested every four to five weeks.

“We turn these products into tea, pesto, together with our famous Parmigiano cheese, herb infused salts, herb infused whey.

“The vertical farm is based in our current floating farm below the waterline, which is therefore cooled by the water. It is going really well,” Peter added.