Ground truthing biodiversity benefits of regenerative agroecosystems

Insect-mediated ecosystem services are critical to food security, yet conventional agriculture—marked by copious chemical inputs and landscape homogenization—has driven alarming global insect declines. In response, regenerative agriculture (RA) offers a promising shift toward practices that promote ecosystem health and biodiversity without sacrificing yields. Despite growing adoption by U.S. farmers, empirical evidence demonstrating the benefits of RA on insect biodiversity remains scarce. This knowledge gap and the complexity of RA techniques slow wider implementation. Ground beetles (Coleoptera: Carabidae), which are diverse and sensitive to farming practices, provide an ideal model for assessing the impacts of RA on insect biodiversity. To evaluate RA's efficacy, we conducted pitfall trapping at 25 commercial farms across the Midwest, assigning each a regenerative score based on management practices over the past five years. Higher scores reflect greater incorporation of RA principles. We used generalized linear mixed models to assess the relationship between farm regenerative scores and ground beetle abundance and α-diversity. Results revealed a positive correlation between regenerative scores and beetle abundance and diversity, indicating that RA practices enhance insect biodiversity in agroecosystems. These findings not only validate RA but also pave the way for integrating more advanced monitoring techniques, such as passive acoustic monitoring and soil eDNA analysis, to quantify on-farm biodiversity.