In Rotterdam, there is a three-storey dairy farm on the water that is a brilliant example of the circular economy in action. It also offers a model for how dairy farming can cope in the era of climate change when the world’s waters are rising – not to mention the possible transformation of chicken farming and vegetable production.

The floating dairy farm had its genesis in 2012, when Peter van Wingerden, the chief executive of the Dutch property development company, Beladon, was in New York working on a floating housing project on the Hudson River. While he was there, Hurricane Sandy flooded city streets and crippled transportation. Soon, fresh food disappeared from stores. For Peter, it underlined the need to produce food as near as possible to its consumers. “So the idea came up to produce fresh food in a climate-adaptive way on the water.” It combines two areas of particular Dutch expertise – farming and maritime expertise.