Is it possible to grow organic fruits using pesticides, insecticides, and fungicides? That’s the question I took to Pam Marrone, an agricultural researcher in Davis, California.

It turns out it is possible. And Marrone is a person who would know. She worked for some of the bigger names in agriculture technology—Monsanto and AgraQuest—before starting her own research lab, Marrone Bio Innovations. Her market: farmers who are interested in keeping pests off crops in order to maximize the yields of the foods we all buy.

California leads the country in organic fruit and vegetable sales, but the race away from over-processed produce is nationwide. An industry study this year found that the popularity of organic produce has grown nearly 10 percent each year