All Aboard the SS Bovinarium!
August 23, 2018 12:07 PM Subscribe
"The waters of the Nieuwe Maas snake through the city of Rotterdam, giving way to sandy beaches, bustling harbors, and, soon, a small herd of floating cows. It may sound like science fiction, but the world’s first floating dairy farm, the brainchild of Dutch property development company Beladon, is well on its way to becoming a reality."
"The floating farm’s cow chow will be sourced from local breweries’ spent grain, cut grass from city stadiums and golf courses, and even leftover potato skins that might otherwise be sent to the landfill. The cows will chomp away on tasty waste, in turn providing the city with fresh dairy—and fresh cow pies."
"The floating farm’s cow chow will be sourced from local breweries’ spent grain, cut grass from city stadiums and golf courses, and even leftover potato skins that might otherwise be sent to the landfill. The cows will chomp away on tasty waste, in turn providing the city with fresh dairy—and fresh cow pies."
Arrrrr, Cap'n Elsie be the Terror o' the Seven Pastures...
posted by jim in austin at 12:59 PM on August 23, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by jim in austin at 12:59 PM on August 23, 2018 [6 favorites]
Hmmm. . . feeding cows spent grain from breweries. . . how could that go wrong?
In fact, that is the root of one of my favourite stories about the challenges of improving public health and services, in which 2/3 of the mortality rate for infants and young children in 19th century NYC was due to that exact practice, previously.
posted by ianhattwick at 1:18 PM on August 23, 2018 [4 favorites]
In fact, that is the root of one of my favourite stories about the challenges of improving public health and services, in which 2/3 of the mortality rate for infants and young children in 19th century NYC was due to that exact practice, previously.
posted by ianhattwick at 1:18 PM on August 23, 2018 [4 favorites]
I thought it was less the spent grain itself and more that back then the spent grain was contaminated with tons of bacteria due to unhygienic brewing practices- ie not sterilizing brewing equipment. One would assume in modern brewing the spent mash is no longer filled with typhoid. (One hopes)
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 1:33 PM on August 23, 2018 [6 favorites]
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 1:33 PM on August 23, 2018 [6 favorites]
"Hmmm. . . feeding cows spent grain from breweries. . . how could that go wrong?"
I get what you're implying, but spent grains are still fed to cattle. It's not like the grains themselves are inherently plagued or poisonous, that scandal happened in an era when people didn't even know about germs or lots of important things that we do now.
posted by GoblinHoney at 1:33 PM on August 23, 2018 [4 favorites]
I get what you're implying, but spent grains are still fed to cattle. It's not like the grains themselves are inherently plagued or poisonous, that scandal happened in an era when people didn't even know about germs or lots of important things that we do now.
posted by GoblinHoney at 1:33 PM on August 23, 2018 [4 favorites]
I'm not actually a vegetarian, but when you're talking about pontoons full of cows in order to support "sustainable food production" it's probably time to admit that omnivores lost this particular argument a long time ago.
posted by howfar at 1:40 PM on August 23, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by howfar at 1:40 PM on August 23, 2018 [12 favorites]
So I guess you could say they're... on the mooove?
I'll get my coat.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:12 PM on August 23, 2018 [6 favorites]
I'll get my coat.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 2:12 PM on August 23, 2018 [6 favorites]
Homo neanderthalensis, a quick boo around Google for spent grain nutrition information turned up a craft beer news website article on uses for the stuff and it begins "Spent grain, the leftover malt and adjuncts after the mash has extracted most of the sugars, proteins, and nutrients, can constitute as much as 85 percent of a brewery’s total by-product. "
So it does seem that it's far from a complete food. Like anything else it needs to be varied, and I suppose the 19th century didn't know that for a scientific fact.
posted by Quindar Beep at 2:25 PM on August 23, 2018
So it does seem that it's far from a complete food. Like anything else it needs to be varied, and I suppose the 19th century didn't know that for a scientific fact.
posted by Quindar Beep at 2:25 PM on August 23, 2018
It’d actually be hard to design something less sustainable than this. It’s profoundly bad on so many levels. For example: where does all the shit go? Where’s it sited compared to the nearest slaughter facility? Where’s the fresh water come from? And on and on. Just because it’s close to a city doesn’t make it sustainable! Arrrghhhh
posted by DangerIsMyMiddleName at 2:36 PM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by DangerIsMyMiddleName at 2:36 PM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
It’s profoundly bad on so many levels. For example: where does all the shit go?
It's right there in the article:
"According to Peter, the team plans to collect and process cow manure to be used as fertilizer on the farm and throughout Rotterdam. “This is what we call a circular city,” says Peter, “to maintain all nutrients inside the city to use and reuse.”"
posted by Hairy Lobster at 2:44 PM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
It's right there in the article:
"According to Peter, the team plans to collect and process cow manure to be used as fertilizer on the farm and throughout Rotterdam. “This is what we call a circular city,” says Peter, “to maintain all nutrients inside the city to use and reuse.”"
posted by Hairy Lobster at 2:44 PM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
You’re trucking everything in and out! The carbon footprint of this thing!
posted by DangerIsMyMiddleName at 3:00 PM on August 23, 2018
posted by DangerIsMyMiddleName at 3:00 PM on August 23, 2018
So it does seem that it's far from a complete food. Like anything else it needs to be varied, and I suppose the 19th century didn't know that for a scientific fact.
Oh for sure! *only* mash is terrible! In the ye olde cities where cows were being kept far from the pasture the malnutrition + poorly sterilized everything led to sick cows, sick milk, sick kids! But one assumes in this year of 2018 the grain mash is a supplement food. Lots of B vitamins in leftover mash, and its a good calorie boost for hay feed or grass. From the article: cut grass from city stadiums and golf courses, and even leftover potato skins will also be their feed, and between the grass and potato skins the mash as an adjunct should be fine.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 3:06 PM on August 23, 2018
Oh for sure! *only* mash is terrible! In the ye olde cities where cows were being kept far from the pasture the malnutrition + poorly sterilized everything led to sick cows, sick milk, sick kids! But one assumes in this year of 2018 the grain mash is a supplement food. Lots of B vitamins in leftover mash, and its a good calorie boost for hay feed or grass. From the article: cut grass from city stadiums and golf courses, and even leftover potato skins will also be their feed, and between the grass and potato skins the mash as an adjunct should be fine.
posted by Homo neanderthalensis at 3:06 PM on August 23, 2018
No mention of mitigating the methane emissions. I'm sure they're already thinking about this since the project is about being climate-adaptive. Closer seaweed?
posted by Mister Cheese at 4:03 PM on August 23, 2018
posted by Mister Cheese at 4:03 PM on August 23, 2018
“This is what we call a circular city,” says Peter, “to maintain all nutrients inside the city to use and reuse.”
I think this is probably one of those ecologically friendly sounding things that is revealed as madness when the actual carbon costs of implementation are considered. Say what you will about the enclosure of the commons, but agricultural economies of scale matter; they are the basis of all modern society. Trying to maintain an efficient agricultural system which is dependent on constantly moving feed and fertiliser between many discrete locations via heavily used urban transport networks is, I can't help but think, never going to be anything but a pipedream.
There are plenty of good things about urban farming, but it's not a particularly efficient (in any sense) means of producing food. I'd suggest that the time, money and effort being spent on sexy urban agriculture projects would, almost invariably, be better spent on improving sustainable efficiency (with minimum externalised costs) in the dull, unfashionable and ethically dubious world of modern industrial agriculture.
All this said, I do acknowledge that (for example) no amount of research on minimising agriculture water expenditure, or effort campaigning for regulation to require farmers to increase water efficiency, is going to get you even a single nautical bovine. So I can see the other side of the argument too.
posted by howfar at 4:21 PM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
I think this is probably one of those ecologically friendly sounding things that is revealed as madness when the actual carbon costs of implementation are considered. Say what you will about the enclosure of the commons, but agricultural economies of scale matter; they are the basis of all modern society. Trying to maintain an efficient agricultural system which is dependent on constantly moving feed and fertiliser between many discrete locations via heavily used urban transport networks is, I can't help but think, never going to be anything but a pipedream.
There are plenty of good things about urban farming, but it's not a particularly efficient (in any sense) means of producing food. I'd suggest that the time, money and effort being spent on sexy urban agriculture projects would, almost invariably, be better spent on improving sustainable efficiency (with minimum externalised costs) in the dull, unfashionable and ethically dubious world of modern industrial agriculture.
All this said, I do acknowledge that (for example) no amount of research on minimising agriculture water expenditure, or effort campaigning for regulation to require farmers to increase water efficiency, is going to get you even a single nautical bovine. So I can see the other side of the argument too.
posted by howfar at 4:21 PM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
Am I the only one who is sad to discover that each cow will not be floating individually, perhaps with a little festive innertube around her middle?
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:41 PM on August 23, 2018 [8 favorites]
posted by GenjiandProust at 4:41 PM on August 23, 2018 [8 favorites]
Its—do they know that cows aren’t actually spherical?
posted by Huffy Puffy at 4:48 PM on August 23, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Huffy Puffy at 4:48 PM on August 23, 2018 [2 favorites]
I was hoping they would be puffed up on methane and floating in the air. Science is so disappointing.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 6:50 PM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 6:50 PM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
I can't stop singing the title of this post to the tune of "Kundalini Express" by Love&Rockets, to the point where I'm trying to rewrite lyrics about transcendental yogic meditation into jokes about cows.
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 12:35 AM on August 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Harvey Kilobit at 12:35 AM on August 24, 2018 [1 favorite]
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posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 12:44 PM on August 23, 2018 [1 favorite]