A Smithfield Foods Inc. subsidiary is upping its investment in Romania, a country that the company's chairman Joseph Luter III likes to call the "Iowa of Europe."

Smithfield Ferme is set to invest roughly $159 million there this year in an effort to double the number of hog production farms it operates, according to Ziarul Financiar of Romania.

"We now operate 25 farms, but we have 10 to 15 farms under our authorization and 10 under construction," Bogdan Mihail, general manager of Smithfield Ferme, said.

The project is part of a $1 billion plan announced in 2004, when Smithfield first entered the Romanian market.

Smithfield Ferme posted sales of nearly 100 million Euros, or about $159 million (U.S.), in 2007, and expects sales in 2008 to rise by 15 percent to 20 percent, according to Ziarul Financiar.

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