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Farmdata started in the mid 1970s when our Chairman, Maitland Mackie, decided that a computer system was the way forward to control his Farming and Milk Retail business. He could find nothing on the market to meet his requirements and so he hired a programmer and set off.
From this the business started, becoming incorporated as an independent company in 1978. Initially all the sales were of bespoke systems designed for individual clients. These were to larger estates and agricultural support businesses with multi-user requirements. This led to a high level of expertise in the Xenix/Unix environment. We have maintained and expanded this, uniquely, in the agricultural software marketplace. This specialist work is still an important part of our business with many of those early clients still retaining their Farmdata links.
As the market developed, common requirements became apparent. This, along with the falling price of hardware, led to the development of "off-the-shelf" packages for farmers in the mid 1980's.
The main mover behind this development was Brian Pack who had joined the company from The Scottish Agricultural College where he was a senior economist. He brought with him a deep interest in computers, having developed the "Financial Calculator" as part of his Masters Degree at Reading University. Brian is currently the Managing Director of Farmdata.
A range of programs was developed for use on P.C.s covering both financial and enterprise management. This led to a steady increase in the customer base throughout the UK.
Farmdata has constantly reviewed these programs to meet the changing requirements of legislation and to utilize technical innovation. Much of our development is client led, through feedback from our User Club Members. We have always taken a pragmatic view on development, never losing site of the need to provide robust, efficient software to meet our clients needs.This pragmatic view may also be due to the fact that all of Farmdata's senior staff, the directors, programmers, sales and support team have agricultural roots.