The first time Franky Bossuyt walked through what would become his farm, it was barely more than a patch of degraded farmland. Fifteen years later, that same two-hectare plot in Flanders, Belgium teems with fruit trees, wildflowers, and something remarkable: more butterfly species than the nature reserves that surround it.
Bossuyt's land is part of a farming experiment called "agriwilding" — a way of growing food that also brings nature back. A new study by researchers at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and UCLouvain, published in the journal Biological Conservation, shows just how well this can work.
The researchers spent years counting butterflies and moths at Bossuyt's farm, called "De Wildernis," and compared what they found to nearby conventional farms and protected nature areas. The results surprised even the scientists.
The two-hectare agriwilding site — that's about five acres, roughly the size of four football fields — supported 30 out of 39 butterfly species recorded across the entire region. That's more species than they found in the rural nature reserves. Moth diversity matched the reserves too, but with different species — suggesting the farm provides homes for creatures that can't be found anywhere else nearby.
Perhaps most striking, the farm hosted up to six times more individual butterflies and moths than conventional farmland.
"Our study demonstrates that farmland does not inevitably have to come at the expense of biodiversity," said Fien Debusscher, a PhD researcher at VUB and lead author of the study. "With a different design and management approach, agriculture can become an important driver of ecological restoration."
The gains matter because nature is struggling. Globally, wildlife populations have shrunk by roughly 75% over the past 50 years. In Flanders specifically, about two-thirds of bumblebee species are now threatened or already gone, and butterfly numbers have been falling for decades. Modern farming — with its single crops, tilled soil, and heavy use of chemicals — is one of the main causes.
Agriwilding takes a different path. Instead of one crop grown over and over, farmers grow a mix of perennial fruits, nuts, shrubs, and wild grasslands. They disturb the soil less, let native plants grow alongside crops, and create small features like ponds. This permanent plant cover protects the soil, stores carbon underground, and gives insects, birds, and other creatures places to live year after year.
The researchers say agriwilding could be a useful tool for European farm policy. Most current programs pay farmers either to add temporary conservation measures or to stop farming land entirely. Agriwilding suggests a third option: keep the land productive while making it wilder. With the right support, farmers could restore nature without having to choose between growing food and protecting it.
For Bossuyt and others practicing agriwilding, the butterflies are proof that it works. "With a different design and management approach, agriculture can become an important driver of ecological restoration," Debusscher said.