GROUSE Act of 2026

1) On May 14, 2026, Senator James Justice (R-WV) introduced S.4548, the GROUSE Act of 2026, which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry. The bill is in early legislative stages with no further action. 2) The bill authorizes USDA to establish a program providing payments covering 75% of costs for habitat restoration activities on eligible forest land (at least 10 acres, nonindustrial private, with logging or natural disaster history). However, authorization does not equal appropriation—no specific funding amount is provided, and actual money requires a separate appropriations bill. The landowner cap (5% or 250 acres, whichever is less) limits program scale. 3) Structural winners include companies supplying native vegetation inputs: Corteva ($CTVA) for seeds and crop protection, Deere for equipment, and FMC ($FMC) for fertilizers. However, the voluntary nature and small acreage cap mean revenue impact is negligible relative to these companies' multibillion-dollar revenues. 4) No real market data is provided for stock prices; analysis is based on legislative text and company financials. 5) The bill must pass committee, then the full Senate, then the House, and be signed into law. Even if enacted, appropriations are needed. Timeline: unlikely to advance significantly in the current session given its early stage and lack of cosponsors.