No degree, no worries: How the ‘university of hard knocks’ grew a regional giant

Marina Gainulina
and
Josh Wall
02:30pm August 25 2025

Arron Hutcheon doesn’t have a university degree. What he does have is a lifetime of experience, a diesel mechanic grandfather’s legacy and a business that’s grown from a single workshop in Coolamon to a network of 20 branches across New South Wales. 

By the time Hutcheon was old enough to earn pocket money, he was already pumping fuel at his grandparents’ service station in the Riverina region of southern NSW. “I got exposed to businesses at a very early age,” he recalls. “I spent a lot of my weekends in the workshop with my father.” 

Today, he is the third-generation CEO of Hutcheon & Pearce, Australia’s largest family-owned John Deere dealership, a sprawling enterprise leading the way in agtech by supplying cutting-edge equipment and support to farmers.

He does little to hide his fondness for his customers. As he puts it, “Once a year you may need a doctor, or a lawyer, but you need a farmer three times a day, every day”. 

Growing up in regional Australia, Hutcheon’s leadership journey was hands-on from the start. From helping out in his grandfather’s workshop during school holidays to an apprenticeship with the business at 18 years old, he was drawn to “doing what I love and what I’ve always wanted to do”. 

Forgoing a tertiary education, he credits his success to surviving the “university of hard knocks” instead.  

By 26, he was running the business. In 2010, he and his wife bought the company from his parents. “I wanted to conquer the world,” he admits. “We doubled the size [of the business] in four years with our first big acquisition.”

That growth was made possible by long-standing partnerships. “We’ve been banking with Westpac for over 70 years now,” Hutcheon says, a nod to the continuity that has helped fuel the company’s expansion.

Amid the growth and innovation, Hutcheon remains grounded in the family values passed down over generations. “Integrity trumps everything,” he says. “In our business, where we’re dealing with multi-generational relationships, it takes years to build trust and seconds to lose it.”

That trust is especially critical in agriculture, where the stakes are high and the margins tight. A customer-first ethos is evident in the company’s embrace of cutting-edge agtech. While automation captures headlines, Hutcheon sees even greater promise in precision spraying technology. 

“Going from a field-by-field management, to a zone-by-zone management, all the way down to a plant-by-plant management… reducing herbicide rates up to 90%. I'm really excited about is how we can help our customers unlock those efficiencies” he says.

The environmental and economic benefits of this kind of precision agriculture are substantial. “It’s a fantastic thing for the planet and being able to pass the cost benefits down to the end consumer,” Hutcheon says. “Where that tech will go - applying whatever the crop needs from an agronomical standpoint including fertiliser, herbicides and pesticides - it’s very exciting.”

That forward-thinking philosophy extends to his workforce, too. As Anthony Miller, CEO of Westpac, observed, “Two things that really stood out to me about the way Arron is approaching things is just this focus on making sure he had the best team and that team was motivated and supported, and then also his long-term thinking.”

As the business has scaled, so has its team. From 100 staff at the time of the family handover, Hutcheon & Pearce now employs around 570 people. 

But Hutcheon is quick to point out that growth isn’t just about numbers. “The future success of our business is about having the best talent in the industry,” he says. 

Recognising the gender imbalance in the traditionally male-dominated technician roles, Hutcheon has led a push for a culture shift. “We were shutting ourselves off from 50% of the talent pool,” he says. “Breaking the shackles of that traditional thinking has opened up a whole new level inside Hutcheon & Pearce.”

The company now partners with schools and TAFE to bring more women into its apprentice program, a move Hutcheon sees as essential for future success. “We have a very inclusive culture and that needs to be the norm in any commercial business moving forward.”

Marina Gainulina

Marina Gainulina is a Content Producer for Westpac Wire, with ten years of experience in marketing communications. She holds a Bachelor of Communications & Media (Journalism) degree and a drive to connect with discerning audiences via authentic storytelling across mediums. She has managed editorial and brand comms for the likes of Tiffany & Co., Hugo Boss, NIVEA and GRAZIA.

Josh Wall

Josh Wall is the Head of Video at Westpac Wire. Prior to joining the team, he spent 10 years as a video journalist and documentary filmmaker, most recently as Head of Video for the Guardian Australia. He also worked across numerous News Corp mastheads in Sydney as a presenter, producer, writer and video journalist. Josh is originally from Perth, Western Australia where he began his career by co-creating a video magazine that focused on music and the arts.

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