Foreign direct investment in U.S. firms and real estate about doubled between 1973 and 1978. In response, several studies were commissioned by the Executive Branch to ascertain the level and influence of foreign investment and to require reporting of foreign investment in U.S. agricultural land. Most of the increase in direct investment came from Western Europe and Canada, not from oil exporting countries. Foreign investors do not have dominant control of firms throughout the input, production, marketing, and processing of any one food item.