A proposal to build a vast, six-storey farm holding pigs, chickens, salmon and crops in Rotterdam is being backed by Dutch agriculture minister, Laurens-Jan Brinkhorst.
High-rise farming is the only answer to Holland鈥檚 pressing space problem, argues Jan De Wilt of the National Council for Agricultural Research in the Hague, who came up with the plan.
But the 鈥楢gropark鈥� has been attacked by farmers and animal rights campaigners alike, says Bird van dan Barg, a pig specialist at the Animal Protection Society in the Hague.
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鈥淲e are absolutely against it and so are the farmers,鈥� he says. 鈥淭hey already have problems with animal health and holding 300,000 pigs in the same building means there is a high risk of the spread of disease. Also, people do not like the idea of pigs living in flats.鈥�
De Wilt disagrees: 鈥淚f people can live in apartment buildings, so can pigs. If people don鈥檛 like the idea, it鈥檚 because they have a romantic view about agriculture. But that is not tenable.鈥�
Holland is the world鈥檚 third largest food exporter and much of its land is already intensively farmed.
De Wilt is proposing that one million chickens, along with 300,000 pigs, salmon tanks, mushroom beds and a greenhouse could all be housed in a 20-metre tall building in Rotterdam harbour. The 25-hectare (63-acre) area would also hold processing plants to turn pig and chicken manure into fertiliser and salmon feed, as well as to package the produce.
He claims that several Dutch international farming companies are interested in the plan. 鈥淏ut they want to stay quiet about it for the time being, while there is so much social concern,鈥� he says.
De Wilt thinks Agroparks would have several major advantages over conventional farms. 鈥淭hey would improve the quality of the landscape by requiring less land to be cultivated, they would cut down on transport, and they would provide better living conditions for many animals,鈥� he told 快猫短视频.
Each pig would have a 1.5 metres square cubicle, and would have access to a balcony, says De Wilt. But for van dan Barg, the balcony is a major concern.
鈥淭here is a worry that allowing contact between animals on the balconies will make disease outbreaks more likely. Hundreds of thousands of pigs could need to be slaughtered, instead of just a few thousand,鈥� he says.
Van dan Barg is convinced that the plan will not go ahead. Even de Wilt thinks it could be 10 years before public opinion moves to accept it.