In-depth reporting, data and actionable intelligence for policy professionals – all in one place.
Two Dutch entrepreneurs say floating farms will help secure cities’ food supply.
Press play to listen to this article
Voiced by artificial intelligence.
This article is part of POLITICO’s Global Policy Lab: Living Cities, a collaborative journalism project exploring the future of cities. Chapter 3 of the project is presented by Holcim.
ROTTERDAM — Rising sea levels pose an existential challenge for the Dutch city of Rotterdam. For some locals, it’s also a business opportunity.
Peter and Minke van Wingerden, founders of the world’s first floating dairy farm, certainly see it that way.
Scan the shores of the Maas River that flows through Rotterdam, a city of around 600,000 people in the southern Netherlands, and their triple-decker boat stands out among the other vessels moored at the Merwe harbor.
The open-air stable on its top level can host up to 40 cows; the milk and manure they produce are processed on the bottom two levels, where there is also a vertical herb-growing farm.
A team of 40 volunteers work on the farm and run a small shop — on land — where visitors can buy milk, butter, yogurt, buttermilk and cheese produced on board, as well as fertilizer and herbs. They also deliver to local supermarkets.
The founders, who are husband and wife, have pitched their farm as an answer to the challenges posed by long supply chains, which come with heavy environmental footprints and are increasingly vulnerable to disruptions linked to climate change.
“One of the advantages of a floating farm [is that] because you are climate adaptive, you can keep on producing fresh healthy food near the city, or in the city” during extreme weather events like floods or heavy rains, said Minke.
Rotterdam is one of the most exposed cities in the Netherlands when it comes to climate impacts: As much as 85 percent of its area lies below sea level, compared to one-fourth of the country as a whole.
As more cities take steps to adapt to climate change and lower their emissions, the couple say their model can help local leaders achieve those goals by reducing the distance food has to travel before it reaches consumers.
Floating Farm is in talks with Dubai and Singapore to replicate the experiment, with a focus on vertical crop farming rather than dairy.
While the system should not necessarily replace traditional farming, “every city should have at least one floating farm,” particularly those that are surrounded by water or heavily reliant on food imports, said Minke.
The idea for the floating farm came to the couple after Peter, an engineer, experienced first-hand the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy in New York, where he was working on a floating housing project.
The city’s food supply chains, which rely on thousands of food trucks, collapsed, leaving residents without fresh produce. Peter realized that “if a hurricane or storm came to Rotterdam, after two days there would be no fresh food on the shelves.”
The couple started small, with the goal of supplying high-quality dairy products to local consumers and educating city residents about the importance of sustainable food production.
The couple worked with researchers at the University of Utrecht to establish whether cows get seasick and found that they could fare well on their boat, which relies on the same stabilizer technology used by navy ships to minimize the roll.
Still, the project has drawn criticism from local animal welfare activists. The Party for the Animals (PvdD) last year called on the city council to withdraw the farm’s permit to operate in the city, after two cows fell on separate occasions into the water and had to be rescued by emergency services. The motion did not pass.
“The cows are very happy on the water,” said Minke, who stressed that animal welfare is “topic number one” for the company.
PvdD also takes issue with the project’s claims about its sustainability and environmental impact, arguing that intensive dairy farming is not climate friendly and that people should be encouraged to consume less meat and dairy. One party member called the project a “PR stunt” and “a marketing trick by the livestock industry.”
Minke stressed that the company is working hard to minimize its environmental impact. The farm feeds its cows using food waste from local businesses — and collects and purifies rainwater. A platform of solar panels and a wind turbine float alongside the vessel, providing it with some of the energy the farm needs.
The couple had planned to open a second farm in the harbor last year, but said it is still waiting for a permit from the city council.
The project has faced regulatory hurdles since the start, according to Minke, who recalled it was tough to secure its place in the harbor when it launched in 2019.
“We do things that have not been done before, but then we have to deal with regulations that are made for other situations,” she said, adding that those constraints made innovation “very hard.”
Johan Verlinde, who manages Rotterdam’s climate adaptation program, insisted that the city is supportive of “innovative solutions on water” and clarified that it doesn’t fund private initiatives like the floating farm in order to maintain a level playing field.
This article is part of POLITICO’s Global Policy Lab: Living Cities. Chapter 3 of the project is presented by Holcim. The article is produced with full editorial independence by POLITICO reporters and editors. Learn more about editorial content presented by outside advertisers. You can sign up for Living Cities here.
Log in to access content and manage your profile. If you do not have an account you can register here.
Forgot your password?
By logging in, you confirm acceptance of our POLITICO Privacy Policy.
