By Chris McCullough

Owners of the world’s first floating dairy farm in The Netherlands have put it up for sale citing "ridiculous outdated demands" from the local environmental department as one of the main reasons forcing its closure.

Currently home to 28 Dutch MRI (Meuse-Rhine-Issel) cows, the floating farm 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.

It 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.

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.

Closure of floating dairy farm

However, seven years later the farm is up for sale due to it running out of permission to stay in the port, and due to an emissions policy deemed extremely unfair by the owners.

Owner Peter van Wingerden said: “The urge from the city and the port to redevelop the area into residential housing is the main driver to leave within one year. That is still the case.

Around two years ago the floor in the farm, which was designed to produce low emissions, started to bulge causing problems for both the cows and a robotic scraper to cross over it.

Peter and Minke decided to replace the floor with another low -emissions style flooring, but as it was made in Germany it was not certified in The Netherlands.

Even though the farm measures its own emissions levels regularly, and it was still keeping below the optimum levels, DCMR, otherwise known as Rijnmond Environmental Service, was unhappy and sanctioned the farm just because the new floor was not certified.

Preferring not to run the risk of inspectors visiting the farm and adding more fines, the duo have decided to sell the cows and the farm, which can be towed to any location around the world.

Peter said: “We will not replace a perfect working floor without a certificate for a potential imperfect working floor just because it has a certificate, while we need to leave within one year.

"The bureaucracy is killing innovation and entrepreneurship,” he said.

Peter also added that putting back the original damaged floor, just because it was registered and approved, was not an option.

Milk production

The farm is producing around 600L of milk per day with high protein and butterfat content, which is processed mainly into milk, yoghurt and cheese.

Peter said that he is also frustrated that the leasing contract with the port and the city that allows the floating farm to stay in its location, will not be renewed.

He said: “Our leasing and operational contract with the port and the city will end on January 31, 2028.

"They want to redevelop the area into a residential region much sooner than expected.

"Ironically, the goal of the port is to have more transportation, instead of less.”

Peter said the farm, which extends to three stories high with one third of it under the waterline, is now up for sale.

He said: “We will sell the building, which contains numerous technologies like our feeding area for the cows, the manure treatment, the dairy processing facility that manufactures yoghurt and cheese, our cheese ripening room and our newly built, third version, of our vertical farm where we produce microgreens, leavy greens, herbs and edible flowers.

“We can tow the farm away any moment to any location. The building is iconic, unique, and almost historical as we have started to design new versions.

“The cows are already in the process of being sold. We will disclose the price of the building only to serious interested purchasers,” he added.