In 1904, stem rust, a new pest, threatened the wheat crop of western Canada. Experts from Chicago were invited to estimate the size of the crop and to forecast the impact of this reduced crop on the Canadian economy.
When Cora Hind, a comparatively unknown reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press, read the report she was greatly disturbed, so undertook to make a survey. Her observations indicated that production would be substantially above the estimates of the experts. Although the publication of her survey evoked jeers from many quarters, her estimate proved to be very accurate indeed.
Almost overnight Cora Hind became a national figure and an expert on the field of crop forecasting. For the next 29 years her predictions were accepted in preference to all others.
During this period she developed the market page of the Free Press and the Farmers’ Forum Section. Thus the Free Press became the first Canadian newspaper to publish a distinctly agricultural section, complete with editorial comment, in its dairy editions. Because of her keen perception, Cora Hind exerted, through her writings, a profound influence on the agricultural policy of Canada.
In 1925, her talents were officially recognized when she received an honourary degree at the University of Manitoba. Two years later she was made an honourary member of the Canadian Society of Technical Agriculturists.
