COWS Act of 2026

This bill changes the federal Environmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) so it can pay farmers to use alternative ways of handling manure, such as pasture grazing, composting, and dry manure storage, that reduce methane and nitrous oxide emissions. The Department of Agriculture could pay up to 100 percent of the costs of these practices and would have to pay at least half of the payments in advance for materials, equipment, and technical help. Contracts for these practices could last up to 3 years, and groups of producers could apply together for a shared composting facility. The department would rank applications by climate and environmental benefits and, where practicable, give most of these contracts to small and medium-sized dairy and livestock operations. The department could also waive existing payment limits for these contracts and would have to create a new conservation standard for on-farm compost production within 1 year.

Full text and official record on Congress.gov

Sponsors

• Alex Padilla Democrat sponsor
• 2 cosponsors