S. 5309 — COWS Act of 2026

This section defines "alternative manure management practice" as measures that reduce methane and nitrous oxide emissions, nitrate leaching, or improve carbon sequestration, including pasture-based management, compost-bedded pack barns, and solid separation technologies. It defines "composting practice" as on-farm production and use of compost from organic waste to improve water retention and soil health. The section adds both as eligible practices and includes composting practices among conservation activities eligible for support.

This section adds practices that increase carbon sequestration or reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including methane and nitrous oxide, to the list of state-determined high-priority practices eligible for increased payments under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. It authorizes payments of up to 100 percent of costs for alternative manure management practices, requires advance payments of at least 50 percent of the total for materials, equipment, or technical assistance, and limits contracts that include such practices to a maximum term of 3 years.

This section establishes new criteria for prioritizing Environmental Quality Incentives Program applications that include alternative manure management practices. It requires the Secretary to rank such applications to maximize carbon sequestration, greenhouse gas emissions reductions, and environmental and public health benefits including water quality improvements; ensure geographical and scale diversity with support for small and medium-sized dairy and livestock operations; and award the majority of related contracts each fiscal year to small and medium-sized operations, including beginning, limited-resource, and socially disadvantaged farmers and ranchers. It also authorizes joint applications and contracts for shared composting facilities.

This section establishes new duties for the Secretary regarding alternative manure management practices under contracts in the Environmental Quality Incentives Program. It requires the Secretary to determine and publish factors for estimating carbon sequestration and greenhouse gas emissions reductions for each practice; identify eligible producers based on practices in use at application, including anaerobic decomposition of volatile solids in lagoons; and assist those producers through payments, technical assistance, training, reviews and revisions of conservation practice standards, and cooperative agreements with third-party technical providers.

This section revises the $450,000 aggregate payment limit under the Environmental Quality Incentives Program for contracts entered into during fiscal years 2014 through 2023 by removing the clause that applied the cap regardless of the number of contracts. It also authorizes the Secretary to waive the limitations in section 1001D(b) or section 1240G for contracts that include an alternative manure management practice when necessary to meet project objectives and to impose a separate payment limit for any such contract.

This section adds alternative manure management practices to the projects eligible for competitive grants under the Conservation Innovation Grants program to stimulate innovative approaches to environmental enhancement in conjunction with agricultural production.

This section requires the Secretary of Agriculture, within one year of enactment, to review the composting facilities practice standard and the soil carbon amendment practice standard to assess their adequacy for advancing alternative manure management practices (as defined in section 1240A) and on-farm composting generation and utilization, and to develop and implement a new conservation practice standard for on-farm compost production.