Farm of Tomorrow gets space on the edge of rural Trintelen

The best place for the Farm of Tomorrow is on the edge of Trintelen. At least, that's what the experts think. There you will find the space needed to allow agricultural businesses to blend into the environment.

The word 'mega-stall' puts people on the wrong track, says alderman Jos Last again and again. The original plans of farmer Voncken from Trintelen did indeed include such an enormous box. "But we immediately said: no, that is no longer possible in our vulnerable rural area," he says. "That is precisely why we started the pilot 'Farm of the Future'; an agricultural company that blends into the environment."

Morning

Willem Voncken has since renamed the project 'Farm of Tomorrow'. Because the 'future' is too far in the future for him. He has been waiting six years for the green light to build a new farm that suits a modern agricultural company and he finally wants to get started. Not today, he understands that such a project must be well and thoroughly prepared, but at least in the foreseeable future. Tomorrow, so to speak.

The project, which is supported by the province and the municipality, is now approaching a crucial phase. Soon the city council of Gulpen-Wittem will have to decide on the location of the new farm. Together with experts from various disciplines - agriculture, business administration, nature and landscape - various sites have been examined. Eventually four locations in and around Trintelen remained.

Strengthen

The consultants' preference is for a spacious plot of over 18 hectares, to the left of the road from Trintelen to Eys. In itself, a piece of land the size of half a soccer field is enough for Voncken. But there is room here to fit the future company into the landscape in a good way, Last observes. "To fit in is actually not even the right word," he adds. "

Because of the size of the site, there is room not only for the new farm and the accompanying stables and sheds, but also for the fields to be arranged differently and better. There has been talk in agriculture for some time about working with strips, in which fields with crops alternate with pieces of nature. This could be done at this location. There is also room for orchards, a food forest, grafts and hedges and a catch basin for rainwater.

Neighborhood

For the farm itself, no design is yet in the works. However, the architect is in the starting blocks: he can start drawing as soon as the location has been determined. "By the way, you shouldn't think of one building, Last explains: "It will be more like an ensemble of separate buildings. Seen from a distance, it will come across as an agricultural hamlet like those you often see in the Heuvelland region." In terms of materials, they are looking at products such as wood, bamboo, straw and local Kunrader stone.

Source: De Limburger