Episode 160: Creating Disease-Resistant Vines without Fungicides with Steven Thompson
Regenerative Agriculture Podcast
AEA Marketing
4.7 • 546 Ratings
🗓️ 31 July 2025
⏱️ 70 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Steven Thompson is the co-founder of Analemma Wines in Mosier, Oregon, where he and his team have transformed a conventional cherry orchard into a vibrant, biodynamic vineyard. With a background in wine and viticulture, Steven focuses on creating a farm that reflects beauty, biodiversity, and intentional design.
Through regenerative practices, Steven has eliminated synthetic inputs, transitioned to dry farming, and built soil health using sap analysis, foliar nutrition, and microbial inoculants. His approach has improved vine vigor, reduced pest pressure, and enabled clean native yeast fermentations that capture a true sense of place.
In this episode, John and Steven discuss:
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Transitioning from conventional cherries to biodynamic grapes
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Attracting pollinators with lavender and flowering hedgerows
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Managing powdery mildew with balanced nutrition and biologicals
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Soil improvements that enabled dry farming and deeper roots
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Using sap analysis to reduce foliar input dependency
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Boosting disease resistance through regenerative practices
Additional Resources
To learn more about Steven and Analemma Wines, please visit: https://analemmawines.com/
To download a copy of the Plant Health Pyramid, developed by John Kempf, please visit: https://advancingecoag.com/plant-health-pyramid/
About John Kempf
John Kempf is the founder of Advancing Eco Agriculture (AEA). A top expert in biological and regenerative farming, John founded AEA in 2006 to help fellow farmers by providing the education, tools, and strategies that will have a global effect on the food supply and those who grow it.
Through intense study and the knowledge gleaned from many industry leaders, John is building a comprehensive systems-based approach to plant nutrition – a system solidly based on the sciences of plant physiology, mineral nutrition, and soil microbiology.
Support For This Show & Helping You Grow
Since 2006, AEA has been on a mission to help growers become more resilient, efficient, and profitable with regenerative agriculture.
AEA works directly with growers to apply its unique line of liquid mineral crop nutrition products and biological inoculants. Informed by cutting-edge plant and soil data-gathering techniques, AEA's science-based programs empower farm operations to meet the crop quality markers that matter the most.
AEA has created real and lasting change on millions of acres with its products and data-driven services by working hand-in-hand with growers to produce healthier soil, stronger crops, and higher profits.
Beyond working on the ground with growers, AEA leads in regenerative agriculture media and education, producing and distributing the popular and highly-regarded Regenerative Agriculture Podcast, inspiring webinars, and other educational content that serve as go-to resources for growers worldwide.
Learn more about AEA's regenerative programs and products: https://www.advancingecoag.com
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | Hi, friends, this is John. Welcome back to the Region of Agriculture podcast. Today I'm here with Stephen Thompson. |
| 0:06.8 | And, you know, this conversation about how we improve soil health, plant health, and ultimately have an impact on public health and our overall ecosystem is a conversation that so many people are pushing forward |
| 0:23.8 | and are making progress and contributing to the momentum in their own lives and the people in the |
| 0:28.2 | communities that are around them. So I've been looking forward to having this conversation with |
| 0:32.1 | Steven. Stephen, thank you for being here. I'd love to tell us a bit about your context and your story, |
| 0:39.4 | the scope of your operation, and what it is that you're working on. |
| 0:43.0 | Thank you, John. It's a real pleasure and honor to be here. |
| 0:48.4 | AEA has done so much for me and my evolutionary thinking and practice of farming. So it's a real treat. The context for my relationship with regenerative ag and being here today is where I'm a diverse farming operation focused mainly on |
| 1:17.2 | wine grape production and fresh cherry orchards in north central Oregon, a little town |
| 1:24.9 | called Mosher here in the Columbia Gorge. |
| 1:28.5 | It's a beautiful place to live and work. We have four really beautiful, vibrant seasons. And we started this |
| 1:38.4 | endeavor, my business partner, Chris Fade, and I, we started back in 2010 and began what is now Annalima Wines. |
| 1:51.1 | And we've just been working hard here transitioning a conventional cherry farm. What was a conventional cherry farm when we purchased it into a more diversified operation. |
| 2:09.6 | And we've been focused on regenerative ag since inception and kind of reached a milestone in 2017 when we were certified through Demeter, |
| 2:21.4 | the organization of Demeter for Biodynamic Certification. |
| 2:25.8 | And yeah, we just really enjoy creating a farm here with a lot of individuality and personality |
| 2:33.3 | and welcoming guests and visitors |
| 2:37.1 | ever since then. |
| 2:39.4 | And you're correct. |
| 2:40.1 | You do live in a beautiful area. |
| 2:42.0 | And you also live in quite being in Mosier. |
| 2:44.4 | You live in pretty close proximity to several of our AEAT team members, which I'm sure is a lot |
... |
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