From Finance to Farming

Arne Driessen’s journey into regenerative agriculture began in the world of finance. For five years, he worked as an impact investor with various funds and family offices in the Netherlands, gaining a bird’s-eye view of both the challenges and opportunities in the agriculture sector.

When Arne and his co-founder Michiel van den Hoven realized that there were no regenerative tree nurseries in the Netherlands, they left the office and stepped into the field.

"For a country with a growing regenerative agriculture movement,” Arne says, “We were shocked that there were very few organic nurseries to supply these businesses. The supply chain starts with the seedling. Most farms don’t grow trees and shrubs from scratch, they buy them in the desired varieties. If that plant material is grown with harmful inputs, then every farm starts with a compromised foundation.”

With that in mind, Arne and Michiel started Koperwiek on an 8.5-hectare tree nursery plot in the Randstad, one of the most densely populated regions in the Netherlands, and right next to Greenport Boskoop, home to over 800 industrial nurseries that ship millions of plants across the EU annually.

“This was a strategic move,” Arne explains. “Koperwiek sits on the edge of the industrial epicenter that must reinvent itself to meet environmental challenges. We have access to local expertise and an industry that has been around for more than 500 years. At the same time, we are treading on completely new terrain since there are no people, as far as we know, that have successfully applied regenerative agriculture practices on tree nursery farms at scale. We’re creating a new standard.”

Building the Regenerative Tree Revolution

When Arne and Michiel acquired the site for Koperwiek, it had been neglected for years. To even start farming the fertile, wet, and peaty soil, they first had to remove 50 trucks of old greenhouses, steel structures, and decades of accumulated debris. From there, irrigation infrastructure had to be rebuilt and the process of soil regeneration could begin.

Where most nurseries rely on chemical fertilizers, pesticides, plastic pots, and peat-based substrates to grow young trees quickly, Koperwiek has eliminated plastic and peat, replaced synthetic inputs with closed-loop compost extracts, teas, and fertilizers, and developed lightweight, zero-emission machines and tools designed to minimize soil disturbance. The company focuses on open soil tree cultivation, growing most plants directly in living soil rather than pots, and has achieved organic certification.

In just two years, Koperwiek’s small team of six, alongside interns and volunteers, has propagated, planted, and sold more than 25,000 trees and shrubs. Today, Koperwiek cultivates over 300 species of perennial plants from fruit and nut trees and berry bushes to biomass crops and native pioneer species used in agroforestry. From the beginning, they’ve invested in infrastructure so that they can scale up to more than 500,000 plants annually across the Netherlands.

Building an Edible World

To demonstrate their regenerative approach beyond the nursery, Koperwiek has planted a 1-hectare model food forest with ten distinct zones, each showcasing a different regenerative system in action. The farm also hosts a nature campsite, offering workshops, tours, and educational programs that spread regenerative knowledge far beyond its borders.

“In five years' time, we envision Koperwiek as a bustling space of life and learning where countless people, young and old, come to get connected to the natural processes and find their part to play in the transition towards a regenerative future.”

This educational mission connects to something larger. Koperwiek sees an untapped potential to transform our public spaces into edible, biodiverse landscapes. While they already sell directly to agroforestry farmers, landscapers, and designers, they hope to expand this further to municipalities imagining a world where our public spaces are filled with biodiverse, edible plants.

“Our vision is for a society where land and people are reconnected and restored. We believe that the thousands of edible, food-bearing perennial plants available to us hold the key.” Arne shares.

The Path Forward

While much progress has been made, Arne and Michiel have much to learn about how to grow and harvest tree crops in 1–2 year cycles without damaging soil life, as well as how to create optimal growing conditions that help plants eliminate pests naturally.

However, the potential outweighs the uncertainty. The Netherlands is one of the world’s largest producers of trees and plants, and is a business focused on high-inputs, fast growth, and exports. If Koperwiek’s model works at scale, it could influence thousands of businesses, millions of plants, and a multi-billion dollar industry.

“A tree grown regeneratively today could live for hundreds of years—long after we are gone—shaping landscapes, supporting ecosystems, and feeding generations to come.” Arne shares. “When we choose to grow seedlings in a way that restores the earth instead of depleting it, we are planting more than a tree, we’re planting a legacy.”