Bush says the legislation is too expensive and would send too much government money to wealthy farmers. A bipartisan group of negotiators on the bill made small cuts to subsidies to appease the White House, but Bush said it wasn’t enough.

The veto was the 10th of Bush’s presidency, but Congress had overridden him only once before, on a water projects bill.

Congressional Republicans overwhelmingly abandoned Bush in voting to override the legislation Wednesday, overlooking its cost amid public concern about the weak economy and high gas and grocery prices. GOP lawmakers are anxious about their own prospects less than six months before Election Day.

About two-thirds of the bill would pay for nutrition programs such as food stamps, about $40 billion is for farm subsidies and another $30 billion would go to farmers to idle their land and for other environmental programs.

The farm bill also would:

—Boost nutrition programs by more than $10 billion over 10 years and expand a program to provide fresh fruits and vegetables to schoolchildren.

—Cut a per-gallon ethanol tax credit for refiners from 51 cents to 45 cents. The credit supports the blending of fuel with the corn-based additive. More money would go to cellulosic ethanol, made from plant matter.

—Require that meats and other fresh foods carry labels with their country of origin.