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Since the nineteenth century, governments have used censuses to observe markets. In the 1920s, surveys were added to their agricultural data collection toolkits, kickstarting a revolution. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) was among the most successful agencies to employ such methods. Since 1862, it has become the world’s most prominent collector and disseminator of agricultural statistics, informing US farmers, businesses, scientific institutions, and more. This paper explores the first decade of the USDA’s development into an international statistical clearing house. It highlights how the USDA collected foreign statistics and used surveys to generate the estimates of foreign markets needed to combat low prices and reduce the US agricultural surplus in the 1920s.