Will floating farms grow as world warms?
(10 Dec 2023)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4467859
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rotterdam, Netherlands - 7 November 2023
1. Details of dairy cows’ faces
2. Wide of interior of floating dairy farm
3. Exterior of floating dairy farm
ANNOTATION: Efforts to put agriculture on or in the water aren’t an entirely new idea
4. Various of cows being fed
ANNOTATION: But it’s one that is getting new attention as a way of tackling both food security and the challenges of climate change
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Minke van Wingerden, Floating Farm owner:
"Countries are more and more looking to be self-sufficient in one or another way, and of course climate change is a big thing, because a lot of countries, they suffer from flooding or dry periods so, when you have a floating farm, you are climate adaptive, so you can keep on producing fresh healthy food for the city.”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Rotterdam, Netherlands - June 24, 2019
6. Shot of cow stepping into robot milking box
7. Various shots of robot milking the cow
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rotterdam, Netherlands - 7 November 2023
8. Shot of floating farm on the water
ANNOTATION: A big challenge is whether floating farms can scale up to really contribute to urban food systems.
9. Various of workers in the floating farm's milk and cheese processing department
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Columbus, Ohio – 7 December 2023
++PARTIALLY COVERED++
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Jake Boswell, associate professor of landscape architecture, Ohio State University:
“As a demonstration, I think it's totally worthwhile. As a viable solution to supporting a growing human population…You know, I think you have to ask, well, is dairy farming even plausible in that situation?”
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Rotterdam, Netherlands - 7 November 2023
11. Various of cows being fed
STORYLINE:
This is one of the latest attempts to think outside the box when it comes to adapting to climate change.
Mussel farms or attempts to grow kelp and other sea vegetation might be expected, but not a three story dairy operation.
The Floating Farm has been operational since 2019 and bills itself as the world's first floating dairy farm.
The Maas-Rijn-Ijssel cows which live here are appropriately named after three Dutch rivers.
The farm aims to have a closed loop of production, using its own waste and recycling.
The cows graze on hay and the rinds of oranges salvaged from supermarket juice machines in the port city.
They drink collected rain water from the canopies which protect them from the weather.
Robots are used to milk them and mop up their manure which is used as organic fertilizer.
The Floating Farm sells the milk, cheese and buttermilk produced by the cows in a small shop on dry land next to its harbor berth.
"Countries are more and more looking to be self-sufficient in one or another way, and of course climate change is a big thing, because a lot of countries, they suffer from flooding or dry period. So, when you have a floating farm, you are climate adoptive, so you can keep on producing fresh healthy food for the city,” says Minke van Wingerden, owner of the Floating Farm.
Van Wingerden believes putting farms on the water enables people to access fresh produce near to the cities they live in.
The owners of the Dutch floating farm are already moving to expand beyond their cows.
They plan to add a second floating farm in the same harbor for vertical agriculture — growing vegetables indoors, under lights in stacks of growing beds, irrigated with water purified in part with heat from the cows' manure.
Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: / ap_archive
Facebook: / aparchives
Instagram: / apnews
You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...
Watch video Will floating farms grow as world warms? online without registration, duration hours minute second in high quality. This video was added by user AP Archive 14 December 2023, don't forget to share it with your friends and acquaintances, it has been viewed on our site 539 once and liked it 9 people.