A project that houses cows in a floating barn aims to demonstrate how farming can change its relationship with water and energy.
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00:00A little corner of the countryside right in the middle of Europe's biggest port.
00:13Here in Rotterdam 30 cows occupy this farm on the water, producing 600 litres of milk
00:19a day.
00:20But behind this local agricultural enterprise lies an ecological project designed to meet
00:24the challenges of climate change.
00:27The floating barn, the only one of its kind in the world, deploys a range of technologies
00:31to limit its carbon footprint.
00:34A robot regularly passes through the barn for that purpose.
00:38It soaks up the manure and then it brings the manure to the separator and the manure
00:44is immediately separated between the urine and the dry part of the manure.
00:50And that is really important because if you do so, within three hours you have 60% less
00:57emission.
00:59So that is about sustainable farming.
01:02The floating farm has been in operation for five years now.
01:06Water is at the heart of its concept as a response to the risks of flooding in rising
01:11oceans and seas caused by global warming.
01:16Rising temperatures are exacerbating the water stress that affects 20% of Europe and
01:2030% of the Union's population every year.
01:24The cowshed in the port of Rotterdam is equipped with two systems to reduce this pressure.
01:32The first one is we collect rainwater on the rooftop and we purify it downstairs and then
01:37we reuse it on the farm.
01:40The other one is that we pump up brackish port water and we like to desalinate it but
01:46desalination without chemicals.
01:49We only need heat and what we do, we use the heat of the manure.
01:56In its latest report on water, the European Environment Agency points out that agriculture
02:02represents the biggest pressure on this resource.
02:06Emission from the sector affects 32% of groundwater and 29% of surface water.
02:14The agency therefore suggests a change in agricultural practices, the use of new technologies
02:20and to get the sector to operate with less water, just as they do in Rotterdam.