No, not the kind you're thinking about.

In this case, we're talking about what's known as "the other white meat."

Seven of North Carolina’s members of Congress have asked the U.S. Department of Agriculture to protect the pork industry from its economic troubles by buying $100 million worth of meat for the USDA’s federal food assistance programs.

In a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, they say the recession and the recent swine flu outbreak have hurt the industry. The lawmakers thanked Vilsack for his push earlier this year to call the swine flu virus H1N1 to disassociate it from pork products, but they said the impacts of the scare have hurt the industry.

The letter notes that USDA already has announced $30 million in purchases through the end of the fiscal year, reports Barb Barrett.

“We asking for additional help with the economic crisis the U.S. pork industry currently faces,” the letter reads. “Without your assistance, we are putting thousands of rural jobs and businesses at risk.”

The N.C. lawmakers are Democratic U.S. Reps. Bob Etheridge, Larry Kissell, Mike McIntyre, Brad Miller and G.K. Butterfield, along with Republican U.S. Reps. Howard Coble and Walter Jones. Fifty-five other lawmakers also signed the letter.

They want Vilsack to use $100 million to buy pork for federal food assistance programs, with an emphasis on sow meat to reduce breeding stock.

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President Barack Obama has named two men to lead efforts in rural North Carolina for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Aaron Martin will serve as North Carolina State Executive Director for the Farm Service Agency at the USDA. There, he will help provide loans for equipment, seed and fertilizer, and work to get disaster relief to farmers, Barb Barrett reports. The Farm Service Agency also obtains commodities to help low-income families through food aid programs.

Martin was most recently the district director of the Farm Service Agency for the western region of North Carolina. He also served as a crop disaster specialist and FSA director in Clay County.

Obama also named Randal Gore to be North Carolina state director of Rural Development for USDA. The division manages more than 40 housing, business and community programs to improve quality of life in rural areas.

Gore was area director of Rural Development in Asheboro for 11 years, and served as a multifamily housing specialist in Greensboro from 1990-1994. He previously was a vocational teacher at Whiteville High School and West Brunswick High School.

Gore donated $250 to Obama's presidential campaign and $250 to U.S. Rep. G.K. Butterfield's most recent campaign, according to federal election records.

Martin gave U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan $500 and U.S. Rep. Heath Shuler $500 in the most recent campaign, according to federal election records. He has given U.S. Rep. Bob Etheridge $3,000 since 2007.

U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan also made recommendations on state appointments within the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

For USDA Rural Development State Director:
- William Hobbs, who worked for 20 years for the USDA Farmers Home Administration and is now the director of the Multi Family Housing Programs at the USDA Rural Development;
- Randall Gore, who has been working in rural development in North Carolina for 20 years, currently serving as area director for USDA Rural Development.

For USDA Farm Services Agency State Director:
- Philip Farland, a marketing and outreach specialist with the N.C. Department of Agriculture;
- Walter Smith, who has served as a county executive director for the USDA Farm Services Agency since 1979.

Officials at the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday disputed statements by officials from a volunteer fire department in North Carolina and a state senator about when the fire department's recently announced federal loan and grants for a new fire station were approved.

Leaders of the Pikeville Pleasant Grove Volunteer Fire Department and state Sen. David Rouzer, a Republican, said Wednesday that the department had requested the $1 million loan and at least some of the $150,000 in grants last year and was working through the application process with the Bush administration, reports Mark Johnson.

The fire department's president, Russell Robertson, said he was told the loan was approved in December. Contract bids for the new station were put out in January, he said.

Rouzer, who worked for the Agriculture Department in the Bush administration, accused the Obama administration of being disingenuous because Vice President Joe Biden, who visited the fire department Wednesday, announced that the fire department was receiving stimulus money through the Obama administration.

Robertson reiterated his December timeframe Thursday morning. But after speaking with USDA officials, said later in the day that he had misunderstood the process.

He said the fire department did not officially apply for the money until March 5. USDA provided a copy of the application with that date.

Vice President Joe Biden is coming to North Carolina on Wednesday.

Biden and U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack will visit the towns of Faison and Pikeville to highlight how stimulus spending is helping rural areas.

In Faison, the two will visit the Goshen Medical Center, a rural clinic that serves several counties in Eastern North Carolina. In Pikeville, they'll visit a rural fire station that will be replaced by a newer facility.

A White House press release said the two will also make "a major announcement" about funding for rural housing during the trip.

The trip is yet another sign of North Carolina's new status as a swing state. Biden and President Obama made several trips here during the campaign.

Since the inauguration, Obama, his wife Michelle and now Biden have visited.

Tobacco farming, production and sales have dropped in North Carolina in recent years.

That's according to data collected by the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, which is lobbying for the Food and Drug Administration to be given regulatory control over tobacco.

From 1992 to 2007, the number of tobacco farms in North Carolina has dropped from 17,625 to 2,622, a 79 percent drop. Total farm acreage dedicated to tobacco went from 283,900 to 170,083, a 47 percent drop. 

Tobacco manufacturing has gone down as well, from 12,268 jobs in 1997 to 8,760 in 2006, a 29 percent drop.

And even the sale of cigarettes has gone down, from 922.5 million packs in 1998 to 669.9 million packs in 2008, a 27 percent drop.

Data comes from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, a U.S. Census Bureau survey of manufacturers and industry-funded research. 

Previously: North Carolina senators oppose FDA regulation. 

The mayor of Apex will soon advise his state representative.

Keith Weatherly will begin work Jan. 20 as administrative assistant to House Minority Leader Paul Stam, one of three representatives whose districts include Apex.

He had been working as the senior official to the Farm Service Agency in North Carolina for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, supervising 500 employees and an annual budget of $34 million. Because it is a presidential appointment, the job was ending soon, however.

Previously, Weatherly worked for Sen. Jesse Helms while the North Carolina Republican was chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, writing speeches and answering press inquiries for the committee.

Stam said he did not see a conflict between Weatherly's part-time duties as mayor and his new full-time job.

"Almost all town business is in the evenings," he said. "I guess the only conflict would be if a local bill comes up for Apex. I told him that I have independent judgment on those, which is true anyway."

Stam supported a local bill last session granting Apex a possible $5 vehicle tax increase. He said if there was a serious conflict of interest, he would let Reps. Ty Harrell or Nelson Dollar, who also represent Apex, handle the bill.

The two officials have some history. Weatherly's father, John, was Stam's seatmate years ago, and Stam joked that he relied on Weatherly to tell him how to vote when he came in late.

President Bush signed into law an effort by Rep. Bob Etheridge to protect small farms in North Carolina.

The 2008 Farm Bill included a provision that required farms to at least 10 base acres in order to receive certain subsidy payments in a few programs, Barb Barrett reports.

But the interpretation by the U.S. Department of Agriculture was for only farms with 10 base acres — a trait not found as often in small-farm states such as North Carolina.

Etheridge's office said Congress attended for those who own several small farms to be able to aggregate their land to get to the 10-base-acre requirement. His office says 16,000 farms in the state could be affected.

Etheridge, a Lillington Democrat, filed a bill suspending the rule. Congress will need a more permanent fix by the end of next year, according to Etheridge's office.

Dorothy Helms, the wife of the former North Carolina senator, has endorsed David Rouzer in his run for the state Senate from Johnston County.

"I do not usually get involved in political races other than our own, but this is a very special exception," Dot Helms writes. "David worked in Washington with Jesse for almost a decade, and once you get to know him David you will understand why Jesse and I feel the way we do."

Rouzer, a 35-year old Republican who lives in McGee's Crossroads, is running for the seat now held by state Sen. Fred Smith of Clayton, who is running for governor, Rob Christensen reports.

Rouzer worked as an aide to both Helms and to Sen. Elizabeth Dole, and also worked in the Bush Administration in the U.S. Department of Agriculture. He played an instrumental role in the federal tobacco buyout bill.

Now a lobbyist, Rouzer unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for state Agriculture Commissioner in 2000.

North Carolina's drought has landed on the desks of congressional leaders.

Ten of the state's congressional members signed a letter asking Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader John Boehner for help in getting money for agriculture disaster areas.

The letter follows Gov. Mike Easley's letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture on the same subject, Barb Barrett reports.

Eighty-five of the state’s 100 counties have been declared agricultural disaster areas. The letter was circulated by Rep. Mike McIntyre, a Lumberton Democrat. Republicans Virginia Foxx, Sue Myrick and Patrick McHenry did not sign the letter.