U.S. SENATE PANEL MAKES CONSERVATION EXEMPTION The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee approved a measure that would exempt farmers who planted alfalfa or other multiyear grasses and legumes between 1981 and 1985 from a federal conservation requirement. Sen. Edward Zorinsky, D-Neb., said his bill would restore equity under federal sodbuster rules, which currently deny farm program benefits to farmers who, between 1981 and 1985, planted alfalfa and other multiyear grasses and legumes without interrupting the plantings with a row crop. An official from a leading conservation group, who asked not to be identified, said the panel's move was "an unfortunate first action" because it could lead to the exemption of potentially millions of acres from the sod buster regulations, established under the 1985 farm bill.