The Biostar from Danish firm GST is another take on the rotary hoe.

It can be adapted to suit different conditions, with the springs switched on each of the hinged rotary units to alter how aggressively they work the soil, and individual assemblies lifted out of action so they only operate between crop rows.

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

When all are engaged, they need to be adjusted so they do enough work to pull out weeds without damaging the crop.

Various working widths are available from 4m to 15m (a 9m is pictured above) and they can be fitted with a seeder unit that feeds spreader plates above the rotors.

This has a hydraulic fan, allowing robust seed/fertiliser rates to be applied at speeds of 15 to 25kph.

Suffolk Plant Machinery is importing the machines into the UK, with prices for a 4m starting at £9,000.