Dutch millionaire plans to become world’s biggest dairy farmer

A Dutch multi-millionaire is planning to build the world’s biggest dairy farm in southern Brazil, the Volkskrant reports on Friday.

The paper says Kees Koolen, who was one of the founders of Booking.com and has invested in taxi platform Uber, plans to become the ‘world’s biggest farmer’.

He is already planning to build a massive dairy farm in Gelderland and has bought the ammonia release rights to keep almost 1,500 cows.

The Dutch farm will be built near the village of Wichmond, which has a population of just 600, and locals are worried about the likely impact, the Gelderlander reported. The average Dutch dairy farm has just 85 cows.

However, the provincial council sees no objections to the plan, and Koolen’s spokesman told the Volkskrant the shed being built will only be big enough for 400 cows.

Brazil

‘Koolen is a good entrepreneur who takes advantage of changes in the rules,’ his spokesman told the paper. ‘So he has bought twice as many rights as he thinks he will ever need, just in case.’

Meanwhile, Koolen has also bought 31 hectares of land in Brazil which he plans to turn into the world’s biggest dairy farm.

According to Trouw, the aim is to have around 100,000 cows producing one million litres of milk every day. This, Trouw says, will eventually rise to four million litres.

Cows for the Brazilian farm will be initially bred in the Netherlands, the Volkskrant says.