Step 1: Compare a broadcaster to a seed drill.
A seed drill opens a furrow, places seed inside it at a set depth and pattern, and then covers and firms the soil over it, a whole sequence of operations performed in one pass.
Step 2: Isolate what a broadcaster alone is built to do.
A broadcaster has no furrow opening shoe and no covering mechanism, its entire mechanical purpose is to take seed from a hopper and fling or meter it out uniformly across a working width as the machine or operator moves forward.
Step 3: Eliminate the other listed functions.
Opening a furrow, depositing seed in a furrow pattern, and covering plus compacting soil are all functions that belong to a seed drill or planter, not to a broadcaster, which never places seed into a furrow at all.
\[ \boxed{\text{Meter and distribute seed over a given width of land}} \]