REAL LIFE NEWS: FLOATING DAIRY FARM
by Hazed
What do you do when you want to provide fresh food to the inhabitants of a city, but you’re short of space? You put some cows on a floating platform, that’s what. The Port of Rotterdam in The Netherlands will see the world’s first offshore dairy farm this year.
The facility will be right in the middle of the city’s Merwehaven harbour, where 40 Meuse-Rhine-Issel cows will be milked by robots. It’s being set up by a Dutch property company called Beladon, and the aim is to help the city produce more of its own food.
Reducing the distance food has to travel from production to plate will reduce transport pollution, and with the global population growing, and 70% forecast to live in cities, urban indoor farms could become important. This floating dairy farm will be on three levels, and anchored to the ocean floor.
It is expected to open later this year, and should produce about 800 litres of milk a day.
We just have to hope that cows don’t get seasick.
