SEA COWS

The future of farming in an increasingly land-scarce world means thinking smart. Certainly food for thought for Singapore, which wants to hit 30 by 30. In other words, meet 30 per cent of the nation’s nutritional needs by 2030. Quite a tall order when the island nation isn’t freeing up swathes of land for agriculture any time soon. That’s where good ol’ innovation comes in: think words ending in ‘ponics’ and adjectives straight out of the urban cultivator’s playbook like vertical or urban and even floating.

Floating farms aren’t exactly new here. It’s just that we’re more used to farming things on water that, well, belong in the water such as barramundi. This, of course, makes Rotterdam’s Floating Farm in South Holland unique. Its livestock of choice since May last year has been dairy cows and it is currently looking to expand into chickens right next door in Merwehaven harbour.

The farm is the brainchild of

Peter and Minke van Wingerden of Beladon, a company specialising in waterborne property, and is proof that land animals could work on floating farms with minimal impact on resources and the environment.

However, as grass doesn’t grow on poop decks, the 35 Meuse-RhineIssels cows, a breed native to the region, feed on clippings from nearby fields, beer grains from breweries, bran from mills and vegetables, fruit and bread scraps from local caterers, who get milk as well as yogurt in return. Their manure is used as fertiliser while rainwater settles their drinking needs. And, for the time being, they still have access to a nearby pasture to stretch their sea legs.

The cows are milked on site, with some of the milk heading to the upper level where it’s made into yogurt. From milking and feeding to cleaning, everything is automated.

However, as farming on the water is still too expensive to be commercially viable on a large scale, the floating farm mostly remains a glimpse into robot-managed aqua farms of the future.