Comment on The rocky, inspiring history of farmers’ markets in San Francisco

Each week a different topic will be explored in the newspaper, on SFChronicle.com, in Peter Hartlaub’s the Big Event blog on SFGate.com, and on social media at #OurSF. There were no artisanal cheeses or old guys playing “Brown Eyed Girl” on acoustic guitar at the first farmers’ market in San Francisco history. The mostly forgotten history of the market is an early story of innovation and disruption, with some parallels to what is going on with the local taxicab industry in the 2010s. Looking at dozens of 1943 Chronicle articles, there was no mention of organic anything during the institution’s volatile premiere year. The first farmers’ market was an act of patriotic duty. John Brucato had helped organize San Francisco’s Victory Garden project, which included a lush vegetable garden in front of City Hall. The crop preservation demands of farmers couldn’t be met in the early 1940s, because so many cannery workers had gone to war. Brucato had to combine a pair of loopholes, which allowed farmers to sell on an unused city lot, as long as they sold from the back of a farmer-owned truck. The first farmers’ market sold just two items, pears and apples, from a Sonoma County crop that was about to be destroyed. While the consumers (and The Chronicle) backed the market, City Hall changed its stance, persuaded by powerful grocery and wholesale produce interests. Supervisors insisted the city take control of the market and tried to include antimarket representatives on the controlling board. The decision was reversed by a ballot measure, where citizens supported the market by 145,000 votes to 25,000, despite outsize campaign spending by opposing forces. Cities across the Bay Area started their own farmers’ markets, and officials from Los Angeles drove up to learn how to copy the success. “S.F.