Controlled traffic farming has been with us for some time, but now the concept has been taken further with the emphasis being on the individual crop rows.

However, this does not entail the same row being planted each year, only that each row is managed separately throughout one growing season.

The concept is being worked by a triumvirate of German companies headed by Amazone in conjunction with its specialist hoe manufacturer and a provider of agricultural services to co-ops.

Their efforts have recently been rewarded by the DLG (German Agricultural Society) which selected them as one of five winners in its Agrifuture Concept Award.

Amazone needs no introduction, but Schmotzer Hacktechnik GmbH is a little less known.

The company produces a range of guided hoes and Amazone, like many other manufacturers, appears to be getting up to speed on the technique of inter-row cultivation by taking advantage of its specialist knowledge.

The third participant is Agravis Raiffeisen AG, a company that is most easily compared to the Irish co-op network.

Together they have developed a protocol for plant establishment which considers each row to be a separate crop in the field. The method is briefly outlined in the citation submitted to the DLG:

The technique also allows for the planting of a companion crop between the rows which, it is believed, will '"increase the value of the agricultural ecosystem", primarily by reducing water evaporation and soil erosion.

Amazone itself goes a little further in suggesting that the companion crop will become an essential element of the system, adding to the "phytosanitary support of the main crop as well as soil fertility and biodiversity".

Trials of the new system stated in 2020 and are being undertaken on a 10ha plot at Amazone's Wambergen trials centre, located near the main factory in Hasbergen-Gaste.