By Dhirendra Tripathi
Investing.com – Workhorse stock (NASDAQ:WKHS) rose 2% Thursday on the company’s decision to run a pilot project with a unit of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to test its drones.
The department uses drones in audits of drainage easements, dams, ponds, waterways, and various wetlands across thousands of areas of interest throughout the country. The agency gives technical assistance to farmers and other private landowners and managers through voluntary programsd.
Workhorse will provide the department's Natural Resources Conservation Service its small Unmanned Aerial Systems to support its efforts in Mississippi.
“The goal for this program is to provide the NRCS with a more accurate, economical, safe, and effective solution that can revamp the way they perform wetland supervision. Going forward, we’ll be looking at additional opportunities to further commercialize the data acquisition segment of our business through our sUAS, both in the public and private sectors,” said John Graber, Workhorse's president for aerospace.
NRCS currently uses satellite imagery as well as hundreds of employees to examine key checkpoints.