Rotterdam, the Netherlands, has the world’s first operational floating dairy farm, located in the Rijnhaven harbor where fresh water from the Alps meets salt water from the North Sea.

Starting in May 2019, the floating farm produces fresh milk and other dairy products using a circular economy model that minimizes food miles and utilizes urban waste streams for animal feed.

Priorities are animal welfare, circularity, sustainability and innovation. Producing healthy food while being a part of a city, close to the consumer.

Dairy farming

It started as a small plot of land (less than 1 acre) located within the harbor, with a small number of cows. A bridge connects this plot of land to a three-story pontoon barge structure partly constructed from concrete, floating in the large harbor.

The cows occupy the top deck, including their robotic cow milking facility, milk processing facilities are on the middle level with a unique underwater cheese cave and a vertical micro green garden on the lowest tier.

The farm now has some 40 dairy cows. Apart from grazing on the land based plot, they are fed grass snippets from local football fields, beer brush from a number of local breweries, and surplus bread from local bakeries.

The farm produces milk, cheese, buttermilk, hangop, yogurt, and butter, all from the cows’ milk. And, more recently, micro greens.

Manure re-use

To combat the manure surplus they use the manure as a source of heat used for the desalination of the brackish, water from the harbor.

The farm also produces plant pots partly made from manure. The first plant pots were created in collaboration with Studio Lindey Cafsia. They were commissioned by the Province South Holland to supply plant pots with microgreens from the floating farm.

Micro greens

Micro greens grow at the bottom of the Floating Farm, in a Vertical Garden, literally below water level. Here they grow vegetables in a smart, closed system that uses 85% less water than traditional cultivation and it works completely without pesticides.

The first micro green is derived from sprouts. It contains up to 40% more nutrients than the adult plant. The farm also produce herbs such as basil and lemon balm.

Designed for a climate changing world

The farm is floating, to rise and fall with the tide, demonstrating a resilient approach to food production in flood-prone cities.

Agriculture is ravaged by droughts, floods and sea level rise worldwide. By building on (or in) the water, the floating farm farmers are responding to the challenges of climate change.