Visitors to the Dutch city of Rotterdam may be surprised to see a number of cows on the top of a three-tiered structure floating in the harbour. These cows are fed by hay delivered on a conveyer belt, are automatically milked by a machine and keep out of the way of a robot that mops up their manure. The floating farm, which has been in operation since 2019, sells milk and cheese at a nearby shop.
This is just one example of a new trend in agriculture – farming on water. From cattle barges in the Netherlands, to floating lettuce farms in Mexico and crops on bamboo rafts in India, this article takes a look at examples of this new trend from around the world.
In some instances, there are quite specific reasons for the floating farm. For example, in India and Bangladesh, floating farms have been useful in keeping seedlings above monsoon flood waters. Then, there are some more general reasons for these trials of floating farms. A key one being that as cities sprawl, farms have ended up further and further from population centres. These floating farms offer a more proximate source of food.
The obvious question is scale. There doesn’t appear to be much hope of being able to scale floating farms to a meaningful size. But as these experiments continue they are an interesting new trend in agriculture. Who knows where they will lead.
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