Farms wanting to mechanically weed crops with a modest tractor of 60-70hp are catered for by Amazone’s new Venterra 1K hoe, which the manufacturer describes as a versatile “lightweight all-rounder.”

The Venterra is, nonetheless, available with some advanced technology, including camera-based guidance, section control (with soil-engaging sections lifted and lowered individually), and physical row guidance.

See also: Buyer’s guide: Camera-guided sugar beet hoes

Standard working widths are up to 4.2m, but implements can be retrofitted with folding frame extensions to increase work rate, row widths can be altered, and different soil-engaging tools fitted.

Also, the implement can be configured for rear- or front-mounting on the host tractor.

A choice of parallel linkage-mounted modules covers a wide range of row widths to suit different crops.

16-37.5cm with the EKP unit with three tool-mounting positions, 12.5-90cm with the five-tool KPP, and all modules are individually mounted to faithfully ground surface contours.

Amazone’s patented RapidoClip attachment systems provides quick soil-working tool changes without spanners for the numerous hoe blades available.

Side-shift adjustment regulated by the Horus Professional vision system works by recognising plant rows or differences in height in 3D mode, while an upgrade to SmartVision adds automatic side-slope compensation.

Adding an FTender front-mounted tank and a distribution head on the hoe provides fertiliser application to the row, between the row or overall while hoeing, as well as undersowing.

The RowSpray band sprayer and FT-P front tank facilitates liquid fertiliser or pesticide application.

A starter-spec 3m Venterra 1K set up for weeding forage maize planted by a four-row maize drill at 75cm row centres is priced £12,116.