The Floating Farm in the Port of Rotterdam will keep operating, but not in the form its founders originally envisaged. The dairy herd has left the floating structure, milk is now delivered to the site by the regular dairy truck, and the space below the waterline has been given over to vertical crop production.
Peter van Wingerden, who developed the project with Minke van Wingerden, has confirmed that milk and other dairy produce are still being made and that the vertical farm beneath the waterline is performing well.
A sale that did not go ahead
The €4 million Floating Farm opened in May 2019 as a futuristic attempt to produce food sustainably without the traditional tie-up with land. Feeding, milking, slurry handling and dairy production were all housed on the floating structure, and milk and dairy products were sold to local consumers through vending machines at the farm. The concept proved popular, drawing hundreds of thousands of curious visitors from around the world to the port.
Recently the owners put the farm up for sale following a disagreement with the local environmental department, which said that a newly fitted floor did not comply with regulations. The 28 resident Dutch MRI cows were taken off the structure and were to be sold, and milk production was due to cease.
That plan has since been reversed. 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 now occupies the basement of the floating structure.
Milk brought in from a nearby dairy
Van Wingerden said the dispute centred on the flooring material. He maintained that the farm has the lowest emissions possible because of its modern technology and system, but noted that the rubber floor is German and holds no certificate of compliance in the Netherlands.
A stainless steel pipeline runs from the quay to the farm, and according to Van Wingerden the regular dairy truck brings milk from the dairy for use on the site twice a week, at approximately 1,500L per batch. He put the distance from the milk supplier at just 20km, giving a very short transport time.
Salad below the waterline
The vertical farm is a fully controlled and automated growing space built on three layers with conveyor belts, combining grow-room and warehouse technology. Four types of crops are grown in the unit: micro-greens harvested every two weeks, herbs every three weeks, leafy greens every four weeks and edible flowers every four to five weeks.
These crops are turned into tea and pesto, alongside the farm's Parmigiano cheese, herb-infused salts and herb-infused whey. Because the unit sits below the waterline of the floating structure, it is cooled by the water, Van Wingerden explained.
A move on the horizon
The reprieve is not open-ended. According to Van Wingerden, the Floating Farm will have to leave the port in just over two years' time, as the entire area is to become residential. "This is not the vision we initially started off with, but we are coping with this system," he said.