'Farmer Phil' Bonelli started Hopewell Farms in 2019 after he moved to a plot of land in the Gainesville area.
Bonelli utilizes 'regenerative agriculture', which he described as raising animals in alignment with nature, producing healthier and tastier products.
Hopewell Farms offers a variety of meats, including grass-fed beef, pasture-raised pork and pasture-raised poultry.
The farm raises its animals with a commitment to zero waste and sustainable practices.
“We are on a 43-acre farm, and we do regenerative agriculture, which means we are raising animals in alignment with nature. It's like organic plus to make the most healthy, delicious, nutritious meats,” Bonelli said. “We get those meats to people in a variety of ways, one of which is our farm store. This farm store was a church. This was the original Hopewell Church, the original North Hall one.”
Bonelli explained further how he tends to his farm.
“We don't spray herbicides or pesticides, we don't give the animals any medicine. What we do is we raise them the way they should be raised,” Bonelli said. “We move our cows every day with an electric fence. We move the chickens. We move everything. We treat things as animals should be treated, and that takes care of itself.”
Hopewell Farms participates in several farmer’s markets as well as delivering products to patrons in Hall and Gwinnett counties.
“We aggressively market so that people buy more. We are at three farmer's markets, we are about to be in four farmer's markets,” Bonelli said. “We do weekly deliveries, and we just get out and about. I want to feed the people that I have been put in place to feed, and I don't want to take business away from local farms in other areas.”
Bonelli also holds corporate team-building experiences with coffee provided by Meadowlark Coffee in Gainesville and food from the farm.
“There's nowhere like it where you could go to a working farm and bring your team to eat amazing organic food and learn the lessons that nature has to teach you in a fun way,” Bonelli said. “The lessons of the farm so easily translate to team and leadership.”
Bonelli offers tours of the farm for those interested in learning more about regenerative agriculture.
Hopewell Farms is at 4828 Hopewell Church Road.
