It is argued that the ongoing transformation of Dutch agriculture towards sustainability implies a renewed interest in those farming practices that till recently were considered to be ‘out-dated’ and/or ‘traditional’. Dutch agriculture contains a wide array of farming practices that differ from the dominant model. These deviant styles of farming turn out to be quite interesting from the scope of landscape maintenance and nature preservation. Special attention is paid to common initiatives as e.g. the one of farmers of the Frisian village of Eastermar. Some links between these new perspectives and the work of naturalists are highlighted.