Floating Farm, a New Concept of Sustainability

Floating Farm, a New Concept of Sustainability

THIS FLOATING FARM TURNS SALTY SEAWATER INTO NUTRIENTS FOR AGRICULTURE & IMPROVES MARINE ENVIRONMENT.
This floating farm transforms salty sea water into nutrients for agriculture and improves the marine environment! Credit: disenoyucatan.

A New Concept of Green Preservation

Floating Farm is a concept that involves the development of a sustainable farm on a floating platform. The idea behind the concept is to use the available space in water bodies such as lakes, rivers, and seas, to create new areas for agriculture.

The floating farm can be designed to accommodate various types of crops, such as vegetables, fruits, and grains. It can also incorporate aquaculture systems to rear fish and other seafood. The farm is self-sustaining and operates using renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. The water used for irrigation is sourced from the surrounding water bodies, and the floating farm also has a system to treat the wastewater before returning it to the environment.

The need for a floating farm? One out of every four freight trucks on the road at any given time is transporting food to urban settings. If these trucks stopped running, as they often do during natural disasters, it’s estimated that grocery stores located in cities would run out of food in just three days.

The floating farm concept has many potential benefits, including increasing food production without using more land, reducing the transportation of food, and minimizing the environmental impact of agriculture. Additionally, floating farms can help provide food in areas with limited arable land, such as coastal cities.

Although still in the experimental stage, several prototypes have been developed in different parts of the world. With further research and development, floating farms could become an essential part of sustainable agriculture in the future.

Farmers in Bangladesh are adjusting to extreme weather and floods by using floating seed beds or ‘floating farms’. The UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization declared Bangladesh’s floating farms method as a globally important agricultural heritage system in December 2015.

Prototypes of Floating Farm

There are a few prototypes of floating farms that have been developed around the world. Here are a few examples:

Floating Farm Rotterdam

This is a three-story high floating farm located in the Merwehaven harbor in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It is designed to produce 800 liters of milk per day using 40 cows. The farm is self-sustaining and operates using solar panels, rainwater collection, and a manure processing system.

Nemo’s Garden

This is an underwater farm located in Noli, Italy. The farm consists of six biospheres anchored to the seafloor. The biospheres are made of plastic and filled with air, allowing plants to grow inside. The system uses solar panels to power the lights and a desalination system to provide freshwater.

Ocean Farm 1

This is a salmon farm located off the coast of Norway. The farm is designed to produce 1.5 million salmon per year and is operated by the Norwegian seafood company, SalMar. The farm is powered by wind turbines and has a waste management system that processes the fish waste into fertilizer.

Ecofloat

was designed by the Spanish architecture firm, Forward Thinking Architecture. The farm is designed to be self-sustaining and to use renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power. It would be capable of producing various types of crops, including vegetables, fruits, and grains, as well as raising fish and other seafood.

We only have few prototypes of floating farms developed. As the concept continues to evolve, we can expect to see more innovative and sustainable designs in the future.


Read more: Bangladesh Develops Innovations to Fight Climate Change.

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