McArthur Agriculture
took a 25-tonne capacity
automatic mobile grain drier
to a show. They had farmers
walking around it in amazement
as they didn’t know such a
thing existed; here was a clear
case of a market mismatch as
all that was available at the
time were 12 tonne machines.
He came away from the
show buzzing and with more
enquiries than he’d ever seen
with the result that the business
changed overnight and drier
sales doubled.
The banking crisis of
2008/9 was a tough time for
Stewart: they had to import
equipment despite the volatile
financial situation, which really
challenged them. He went
to Italy to meet Giovanni and
because of their personal
working relationship - and
thanks to Giovanni’s patience
they were able to make the best
of a bad situation. McArthur’s
and Mecmar weathered the
storm and continued to come
good. Throughout this tough
time, Stewart had been holding
on whilst learning on the job
with very little room for error.
On his return from a Civil
Engineering contract, son
John saw how exhausted
and stressed his father was.
They had their first business
conversation and John agreed
to help out for three months.
Suffice to say John never
went back. A year later Scott,
Stewart’s other son came back.
Scott was also a Civil engineer
working in Scotland.
This was the start of the next
chapter of McArthur agriculture,
with both sons swiftly getting
to grips with the business,
learning the ins and outs in a
short space of time. They also
brought a lot of their expertise
acquired in the construction
industry to the table, particularly
aspects of health and safety
which were superior to those in
agriculture.
There was a very positive
response from customers
straight away, with farmers
First in the field for agricultural insurance
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