£3million innovative farm which ‘suprised’ Jeremy Clarkson set to shut

The innovative farm, home to 28 Dutch Meuse-Rhine-Issel cows, was established in May 2019 by Peter and Minke van Wingerden in the Port of Rotterdam.

Jeremy Clarkson visited the farm last year on Clarkson’s Farm and demanded Britain builds floating farms across the country’s docks in a bid to protect the environment.

The ex-Top Gear presenter suggested the idea be taken up in cities such as London, Liverpool and Manchester.

He wrote in the Sunday Times after visiting: “I was there with Kaleb, who thought he knew all about cow farming. But he was stunned by this.

The groundbreaking floating dairy farm in the Netherlands has been put up for sale after facing numerous regulatory challenges. (Image: Newsquest)

“Peter and his wife, Minke, have also opened a farm shop. It’s just like the one we have at Diddly Squat; he even has a neighbour who writes to the council every day urging them to close it down.

“I left the floating farm, genuinely surprised by the elegant simplicity of it all.”

Conceived as a futuristic solution for sustainable food production, the farm operates independently of traditional land-based farming, featuring on-site facilities for feeding, milking, slurry, and dairy production.

Despite its popularity and the interest it garnered from hundreds of thousands of visitors globally, the farm is now being sold due to running out of permission to stay in the port and what the owners describe as “ridiculous outdated demands”.

Owner Peter van Wingerden explained that the city and port’s plans to redevelop the area for residential housing were the initial reasons for the farm’s impending closure.

However, regulatory complications added to the decision to sell.

Around two years ago, the farm encountered issues with its specially designed low-emissions floor, which started to bulge, causing problems for both the cows and a robotic scraper.

The owners replaced it with another low-emissions floor made in Germany, which, despite the farm’s regular emissions monitoring showing compliance with optimum levels, was not certified in the Netherlands.

As a result, Rijnmond Environmental Service, known as DCMR, sanctioned the farm.

Despite the farm’s emissions remaining within permissible limits, the lack of certification for the new floor led to sanctions.

This prompted the owners to opt for selling the cows and the farm, which can be relocated globally.

Producing approximately 600 litres of milk daily, the farm’s high-protein, butterfat-rich milk is primarily processed into milk, yoghurt, and cheese.

The floating farm was not just a novelty but a pioneering initiative in sustainable urban farming, highlighting the potential for food production in non-traditional environments.

However, the closure underscores the challenges faced by such innovative ventures in navigating regulatory landscapes.