The world’s first floating dairy farm will be built and housed in a harbor near Rotterdam City in the Netherlands.
The project is a collaborative effort of three Dutch companies: Courage, the innovation institute of the Dutch ag and dairy sector; Uit Je Eigen Stad, the national frontrunner with urban farming; and Beladon, a company that specializes in floating concepts, according to an article by the U.K. magazine, Farmers Weekly.
The group believes that the concept has potential on a global scale. According to Farmers Weekly, plans are already in the works for a similar structure in New York.
The group also said the floating farm concept could be used to grow other kinds of livestock, poultry and crops.
“As the Dutch have already lived with and on the water for hundreds of years, farming on water is no longer science fiction, but a logical step forward,” the group told Farmers Weekly.
The dairy is designed to be virtually self-supporting, according to a report from The Guardian. The first of its two levels will house a facility for processing milk and reusing waste to grow red clover, alfalfa and grass for the cows’ feed supply. The second level will house the milking section. Cows also will have access to a pasture on dry land. “Beladon’s €2.5m project (£2m) envisages 40 cows on a 1,200 square meter floating platform, producing 1,000 liters of milk a day to be pasteurized and processed into yogurt in a dairy on the floor below,” The Guardian reported.
Whether or not the farm will be a success is still up for debate among experts. Jan Willem van der Schans of the Dutch Agricultural Economics Research Institute told The Guardian, “The real challenge for circular farming is in connecting an area ... where there is serious dairy farming to the city, without the city swallowing up this green area. Innovation is to be welcomed, but why not do this at real farms that can serve as example to all dairy farmers in the Netherlands and worldwide?”
Those who are part of the new project take naysayers in stride. Carel De Vries, a member of the dairy innovation body Courage, told The Guardian, “A third of people are really enthusiastic; a third have big eyes; and the other third think we are crazy. That’s how it goes with innovations.”
Construction for the floating dairy is set to begin in November. 
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Carrie Veselka
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- Progressive Dairyman
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PHOTO: The world’s first floating dairy is designed to house 40 cows and will reside in Rotterdam Harbor. Photo courtesy of Beladon.
