Chemicals are bad, right? Not quite. Chemicals are a building block of life. All living organisms are usually built from these six chemicals: carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous and sulfur. It is also true life produces chemicals, such as carbon dioxide.

           Plants also make their own pesticides. These have adapted over time and allowed some plants to flourish while others do not. Yes, plants have survival of the fittest. In order to beat out bugs, fungi and weeds, plants have adapted over time.

         While it may seem ideal to grow food without the use of chemicals, it is not realistic. Why? Where fruits grow, bugs flourish. The sugar in fruits acts like an addictive drug for insects, who attack fruit in the form of worms, bugs and larvae. And in the interest of food safety, there is little tolerance by processors, retailers or consumers for buggy fruit.

         Case in point: cherries. Ben LaCross is a second generation cherry grower and talks about the process needed to grow the perfect cherry. “It’s a lot harder to grow a healthy cherry tree commercially than a tomato plant or any garden. We can’t grow commercially viable cherry orchard without crop protection products.”  Trees are attacked by root worms and borers, leaves are destroyed by fungus, and the fruit is infested by bugs.

         “Fungal diseases are a major problem with fruit crops because they have no immune system to fight off pathogens.” Ben points to leaf spot as an example.  “Trees have to be sprayed for this fungus every seven days since the leaves are growing so quickly. If trees aren’t sprayed, they lose their leaves. No leaves, no life.”

         Just as you would treat ringworm on your skin, fungal diseases on fruit trees are treated with a mix of chemicals and copper-products, applied at minimal rates by spraying the trees. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) label mandates the last spray is 7-14 days before harvest.

         Pests start attacking the cherries as soon as the tree puts out fruit.  Plum Curculio is an insect that uses green fruit to lay its eggs, which hatch into a worm at harvest. Ben pointed to the zero tolerance processors have for this; if one worm is found, all the cherries are wasted.

         Not only will the processor not accept a load of cherries if a worm is present – the entire orchard will have to be abandoned. In other words, all the time, labor and preparation costs are wasted – a very costly problem.

         How do cherry farmers like Ben be sure they deliver cherries with no bugs? Spray pesticides. The alternative is no product for maraschino cherries, cherry baked goods or cherry ice cream. The pesticides have been extensively researched and are applied at the smallest amount possible – but they are necessary in Ben’s cherry orchards.

         Keep in mind: without chemicals, cherries wouldn’t be readily available to you.

Read more at  Food Truths from Farm to Table to arm yourself with 25 truths you urgently need to know about food so you can shop without guilt, confusion, or judgment. A new book, Food Bullying, releases November 5 to upend the way you think about eating choices.