13-year-old organic activist takes on America's food system

Some say it takes a lifetime for activists to truly make a difference, but Birke Baehr, 13, has proven that age need not be a barrier to elicit change.

His mechanism for spreading his message? The internet. After his 2010 TEDx talk “What’s Wrong with Our Food System,” his video went viral, conjuring almost 500,000 views—one of the most popular TEDx talks of all time. With Baehr’s measured and mature argument, he explained the drawbacks of our corporate food system, and how organic produce and products can help preserve our health.

“I started going down the rabbit hole researching more and more about every single process our food was grown by, grown in, and what was used on it," Baehr explained in an interview with Organic Connections. “I learned about corn, the way that it was grown—genetically modified, pesticides and herbicides. It just opened up a whole other world for me that I never dreamed was possible.”

Now Baehr speaks about organic farming and has a children’s book for sale. He hopes to own an organic farm after he graduates from college.

Read more in Organic Connections.