The project aims to reduce the distance that dairy products have to travel.

Project aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Plans for the world’s first dairy farm, which will sit in the port at Rotterdam, have been revealed.

The project aims to address the issue of an expanding population by bringing food production closer to consumers.

It also aims to reduce the distance that dairy products have to travel, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and educate consumers about the value of agriculture.

The project has been developed by Courage, the innovation institute of the Dutch Agriculture and Dairy Sector, Uit Je Eigen Stad, the national frontrunner on city farming, and Beladon, the leading Dutch company on floating concepts.

According to the project's brochure, the Floating Farm is built on a structure 'where cows can live freely in an animal-friendly garden-like environment'. Forty cows will graze on the farm, producing around 1200 litres of milk a day.

Minke van Wingerden of Beladon told The Guardian that the building is planned in concrete, relatively light and buoyant, with a special membrane floor that lets cows' urine soak through.

On the lower level, water from the cows’ urine will be purified and used to grow red clover, alfalfa and grass under artificial light for feed. Cow manure will either be used or sent to a local farm.

“The world’s population is rising, and most cities in deltas are sinking because of more and more concrete,” said van Wingerden.

“My husband Peter [chief executive of Beladon] visited New York, there was Hurricane Sandy and he saw the shelves were empty; there was only food for two days. He thought we had to do things in another way, and the idea came: why not build a floating farm?”

The project developers hope to begin building the farm this summer, completing in December 2016.

Image (C) The Floating Farm Project