WASHINGTON — In defiance of a veto threat by President Bush, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the 2007 Farm Bill with a 318-106 vote this week. The Senate followed yesterday by approving the bill 81-15. The White House has repeatedly threatened to veto the legislation, claiming that, despite several compromises written into the bill since December 2007, it is still too generous with federal subsidies to growers of crops such as corn, wheat, soybeans and cotton. While some groups, such as the Grocery Manufacturers Association, agreed with these criticisms of the bill, other industry groups, such as the Produce Marketing Association, applauded the bill. “This bill provides more funding for fruit and vegetable industry programs and priorities than any other farm bill in history, attention that is well deserved and has been long awaited and signals that the times are changing,” PMA President Bryan Silbermann said in a release. “It also provides some much-needed relief from what would have been overly burdensome COOL regulations.” If President Bush does veto the bill, the vote totals in both houses

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