Cows in Rotterdam harbor, seedlings on rafts in India; are floating farms the future?

By MIKE CORDER and MELINA WALLING
Associated Press

ROTTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) — Visitors walking along the river that flows through downtown Rotterdam might be surprised to see a three-tiered structure moored in the water, with a top level occupied by brown and white cows grazing on hay dropped from a conveyor belt. The cows are part of a floating farm launched by a couple who got the idea from the food shortages they saw after Hurricane Sandy slammed New York a decade ago. Efforts to put agriculture on or in the water aren’t an entirely new idea, but they’re getting new attention as climate change advances. For instance, an NGO in India and Bangladesh is reviving a traditional practice of creating floating rafts that can keep seedlings above monsoon flood waters that can drown crops.