Floating Farm Takes Sustainable Agriculture to the Next Level

Inspired by the 2012 food shortages witnessed in New York City following Hurricane Sandy, husband and wife team Peter and Minke van Wingerden came up with the idea for a sustainable farm that floats on the sea.

Designed to produce food where there’s the greatest demand - inside a city - the Wingerdens’ three-story floating dairy farm bobs idyllically in the Netherlands’ Port of Rotterdam, an innovative beacon of sustainable agriculture.

The need for a floating farm? One out of every four freight trucks on the road at any given time is transporting food to urban settings. If these trucks stopped running, as they often do during natural disasters, it’s estimated that grocery stores located in cities would run out of food in just three days.

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[freethink]

What do you think of floating farms in cities?

[lxverdant]

3100 BC: Lets put the water onto the crop fields

2019 AD: Let's put the crop fields onto the water

[platenoise]

the first step in the netherlands' plan to replace the ocean with farmland

[ash]

I love how you respond to every comment, it shows how much you care about your fans and providing them content they can believe by siting sources for their questions. About the floating farm, i think it's a really cool idea with a lot of potential to improve and be part of the future of humanity

[lynsonmbeaulieu]

When I first saw this, I suffered a sort of shock - all I could think of was what kind of life is this for a cow?? Such a clinical life, but after calming down, it is certain that many Noah's Arks are needed around the world. I am certain that they will figure it out how to keep the cows from falling in the water. This is a great invention and I'm sure there are applications for people everywhere, especially those living with the rising seas. Thank you for your vision and ingenuity, and concern for humanity.

[heckyes]

As a proof of concept it's a neat idea. In practicality it doesn't seem like this is a very efficient way to move forward. How would all of those cows fair during a hurricane?

[kathrynadkisson]

This is a really good idea to give our land and forests relief. I like how they are self sustainable and reuse everything. Very well done. I also like their plan, its a really good plan. My only problem, is how much space the diary cows have. I am happy they have shelter and can feel the sun, but I didn't see any grass underneath their hooves and the stables seemed very narrow. I can see that they care about their animals and I think they should add grass and more room to the stables to keep the cows healthier.

[downbntout]

So, trucking in the feed, large quantity, instead of the dairy foods, small quantity? Haven't you expanded the flow of trucks?

[michaelbayer]

As a teacher in a rural Alberta farming community, I showed this video to my class. Let's just say that their criticisms were informed, and luckily not sprinkled with profanity. When a 15yr old farmer understands the multitude of issues, it makes me wonder how this idea is being popularized.

[schaughtful]

The waste might be a big issue if it is dumped and causes algae blooms

[steveluck]

It’s still Intensive factory farming of animals even if they are floating. A lot of countries would not stand for the limited space each cow would have regardless of how well the animals where looked after. Vertical farming in cities makes a bit more sense. But ultimately farming in the countryside with lots of space and grass for each animal before transporting produce by Electric vehicles still makes most sense.

[lowbrowrodeo]

I prefer to see cows in pastures. Let people live in flats. It's not really self sufficient, you still need to get their hay from somewhere else. Somewhere where grass grows. Where those cows could live.

[idontusenumbers]

Are floating farms actually better after you account for all the variables? Seems like the farm is an attempt to avoid transportation impact but I'm sure there are a ton of unintentional consequences.

[YoushaAhmad]

Personally, I am not a fan of this type of farming. It is really just a floating version of factory farming. It isn't good for animal welfare and holds on to the idea of excessive consumption of meat.

[isassetuba]

This isn't the first floating farm in the world 😂 😂 😂 Bangladesh has been doing floating for a long time

[vlhz]

Technically not the first floating farm... There have been tons of natural floating farms for ages...

[dianerosenberg]

This is a floating factory farm. The animals are not living on pasture, the manure is being collected underneath in some kind pits - you can see the animals standing on slatted floors. It has to stink. The video has several cow models standing on the pasture, but no real cows. What does that tell you? Do they even want to walk down the plank to get there? 
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They are living on concrete - that is not how nature intends for cows to live - it doesn't allow them to express their natural behaviors. How do the cows even do with the constant bobbing of a floating vessel? Cows are meant to roam pasture and eat the grasses, not hay 24/7. The food products from factory farmed animals also contain higher levels of Omega 6's and lower levels of Omega 3's, just the opposite of what one's body needs - and the opposite of the balance in food products from pastured livestock. In short - food from factory farmed animals is less healthy. (Plenty of studies on this.)

And I can tell you from living in the Midwest of the US and working with rural communities, liquid manure collected from confinement pits reeks in the pit and it reeks when it's applied to farmland - it's a very different smell from real farms. I'm sure the neighbors of farmland being fertilized with the noxious waste won't be happy. It's creative, I have to give you that, but it's not a solution. The video itself reeks of greenwashing.

[brentmiller]

I bet cow fart Cortez is absolutely livid about this!

[maksymtarnowski]

Make a switch to oat milk that will actually help the world? Nahhh

Make a floaty funny cowboat thingy? GIMME TEN OF THESE

[peterfarla]

I like the idea, but can the cows walk free in a meadow too?