Floating Dutch Cow Farm Aims to Curb Climate Impact
VOA News｜Science & Health
September 04, 2021 02:15 AM (source)
Floating Dutch Cow Farm Aims to Curb Climate Impact
因應氣候變遷，漂浮牧場在荷蘭應運而生
September 04, 2021 02:15 AM
Agence France-Presse
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畜牧業在荷蘭是相當重要的經濟來源，受到氣候變遷影響、再加上地勢低窪的先天劣勢，放牧用地越來越有限。在這樣的考驗之下，荷蘭人發展出新的放牧模式，打造出全球第一座海洋漂浮牧場。這座漂浮牧場位於歐洲第一大港鹿特丹，安然自得的牛和周遭的貨輪形成強烈對比；儘管如此，牧場還是能以自給自足、永續發展和減少浪費的模式經營，其乳製品也在市場上大受歡迎，並在2021年開始獲利。在未來，類似型態的牧場也將越來越廣泛。
Among the cranes and containers of the port of Rotterdam is a surreal sight: a herd of cows peacefully feeding on board what calls itself the world's first floating farm.
In the low-lying Netherlands where land is scarce and climate change is a daily threat, the three-story glass and steel platform aims to show the "future of breeding".
The buoyant bovines live on the top floor, while their milk is turned into cheese, yogurt and butter on the middle level, and the cheese is matured at the bottom.
"The world is under pressure," says Minke van Wingerden, 60, who runs the farm with her husband Peter.
"We want the farm to be as durable and self-sufficient as possible."
The cows are a sharp contrast to the huge ships and the smoke from the refineries of Europe's biggest seaport, which accounts for 13.5 percent of the country's emissions.
With their floating farm, which opened in 2019, Peter and Minke say they wanted to "bring the countryside into the town", boost consumer awareness and create agricultural space.
The Dutch are no strangers to advanced farming methods, using a network of huge greenhouses in particular to become the world's second biggest agricultural exporter after the United States.
But that has come at a cost.
'Moves with the tide'
The Netherlands is one of Europe's largest per capita emitters of climate change gases and faces a major problem with agricultural emissions, particularly in the dairy sector which produces large amounts of methane from cows.
Those emissions in turn fuel the rising waters that threaten to swamp the country, a third of which lies below sea-level, and further reduce the land in one of the most densely populated nations on Earth.
The floating farm therefore aims to keep its cows' feet dry in both the long-term, by being sustainable, and the short-term, by, well, floating.
"We are on the water, so the farm moves with the tide -- we rise and fall up to two meters. So in case of flooding, we can continue to produce," says Minke van Wingerden.
In terms of sustainability, the farm's cows are fed on a mixture of food including grapes from a foodbank, grain from a local brewery, and grass from local golf courses and from Rotterdam's famed Feyenoord football club -- saving on waste as well as the emissions that would be required to create commercial feed for the animals.
Their manure is turned into garden pellets -- a process that helps further cut emissions by reducing methane -- and their urine is purified and recycled into drinking water for the cows, whose stable is lined with dozens of solar panels that produce enough electricity for the farm's needs.
'Cows don't get seasick'
The farm is run by a salaried farmer but the red and white cows, from the Dutch-German Meuse-Rhin-Yssel breed, are milked by robots.
The cheeses, yogurts and pellets are sold at a roadside shop alongside fare from local producers.
The products are also sold to restaurants in town by electric vehicles.
"I was immediately seduced by the concept," says Bram den Braber, 67, one of 40 volunteers at the farm, as he fills bottles of milk behind the counter of the store.
"It's not blood running through my veins, it's milk."
The idea of the farm is also to make farming "more agreeable, interesting and sexy", and not just to be environmentally friendly, says Minke van Wingerden.
When she and her husband first approached port authorities with the idea to build a floating farm, they said "are you nuts?", she recalls.
But the farm is set to turn a profit for the first time at the end of 2021, with consumers apparently ready to pay the 1.80 euro (.12) a liter for milk produced there, compared to around one euro at a supermarket.
They are also aiming to build a second floating farm to grow vegetables, and to export their idea, with a project already under way in the island nation of Singapore.
Most importantly, while farming goes greener, the animals don't.
"No, the cows don't get seasick," says van Wingerden. "The water moves only a little bit, it's like you were on a cruise ship."
Language Notes
註 1： scarce 缺乏的；不足的
註 2： refinery 精鍊廠；煉油廠
註 3： swamp 於本文為動詞，使沉沒；淹沒
註 4： pellet 泥炭土；培養土
註 5： methane 甲烷
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Check your comprehension!
Choose the BEST answer to each of the questions below. After you finish, highlight the parentheses to reveal the hidden answers.
1. ( C ) What is the main reason for Peter and Minke to open the floating farm?
(A) It is closer to the source of food needed for cows near the harbor.
(B) There are less carbon emissions near the ocean, which is better for the cows' health.
(C) They wanted to build a farm near the city and create more farmland.
(D) They wanted to cut down on transportation expenses by building a farm near refineries.
2. ( D ) What is the word "cost" referring to?
(A) the high population density
(B) the increase of expenses on fuel
(C) the decrease of revenue on agricultural exports
(D) the acceleration of rising sea levels
3. ( D ) Which of the following is TRUE?
(A) Yogurt and butter are produced at the bottom level of the farm.
(B) 13.5 percent of Netherland's emissions come from agriculture.
(C) The floating farm's cows are fed with food from local manufacturers.
(D) The milk produced from the floating farm can be sold at a higher price.
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