In 2007 the Department of Primary Industries (DPI) in Queensland Australia published a report on farm software. This report was the culmination of research to identify and classify the range of product offerings available globally for the management of farms. It had been conducted by the department on behalf of primary producers across multiple areas of agriculture.

The study, led by JoAnn Resing's team over 18 months, aimed to raise awareness among farmers of the technology options that could help improve their operations.

Through this study the DPI identified over 600 software products, from vendors all over the world, to help farmers manage their operations. Often the products were developed as a direct response to farmers' specific needs within a sector, and then expanded out to meet broader needs. Yet despite the abundance of offerings. many farmers remain unaware of what is available or, if aware, do not know which fit their specific requirements. A key finding from the DPI study was that there is a clear need for a facility to assist farmers to select and compare relevant farm software.

The scope of farm software is diverse, covering livestock recordkeeping- cattle, dairy, sheep, horses, pigs, goats, alpacas; crop recordkeeping- vegetables, grapes, avocados, fruit orchards, nuts, turf, flowers, nurseries; farm budgeting & accounting; land/field mapping; feed management; quality management; weather & rainfall software; and the like. The breadth of products and diversity of features across this space clearly shows the importance of understanding requirements for each industry vertical and matching this against preferred solutions that meet these.

Recognising this need, the founders of Trigora decided to focus early attention on the agricultural sector- specifically farm management software- as a launch niche for their free online software recommendation facility, SoftwareShortlist.com. The team worked in collaboration with the DPI to better understand the issues farmers face when researching software options for their businesses.

As a result, farmers can now select and compare relevant livestock management and recordkeeping software via SoftwareShortlist.com. The website's agricultural offerings will expand to farm accounting, crop recordkeeping and farm/land mapping software in coming months.