Congressman Terry Everett said the new farm bill is crucial for Alabama as agriculture remains the top industry in the state.

However, he is not 100 percent pleased with everything in the bill.

The new farm bill is planned to be the blueprint for federal agriculture and the country’s nutrition programs through 2012.

Congressman Everett sees agriculture remaining Alabamans top industry through then. "Agriculture is the number one industry in the state of Alabama and there are a number of things that I'm very much pleased with because I had a hand in putting them in there," he said.

As for the bill that could make things a little easier for farmers in our region, Everett admits there are some problems with it.

Earlier this week, President Bush announced that he planned to veto the bill; Everett says you have to take the good with the bad.

"I wish that the president had started using his veto pen a number of years ago and he could have started in the 2002 farm bill that had a number of these same things in," Everett added.

Some issues people have with the bill are the commodity payments for farmers with non-farm income over $500,000 dollars. Everett says $100,000 might be a more appropriate option.

"The farmers for instance who are farming my land, I guess farms about 3000 acres, but he has to go to three counties to do it. So, that makes our farming down here far more expensive than the farming in the Midwest," Everett concluded.

Congressman Everett told News 4 that if need be, he would support an override of the impending presidential veto, because this is something farmers in Alabama need.

To view the changes to the new farm bill, such as government subsidies for farm reservoirs, visit the link below.