A diversified, evolving family business
Much like many of its customers, Carolina Eastern is the definition of a family company. Rodgers joined the team in 1973 and took the reins of the company’s chemical division in 1981 after it was formally created in 1975. His partner, Phillips, formally joined the team in 1988 and manages its main headquarters in Charleston.
“We’ve had success because of the foundation these gentlemen laid,” Rodgers said of his father and the elder Phillips. “Al’s son Alton joined the company in 2014, and we’re really excited to have the third generation come into the business. We are truly a family-owned business and have been all along.”
Though the company started in the fertilizer sector, it quickly diversified to add full-service agronomic consulting and crop management for growers of a variety of crops, from corn, cotton, soybeans, tobacco, wheat and alfalfa to specialty fruits, vegetables and peanuts. Carolina Eastern’s geography also includes a lot of livestock; the region is home to a large concentration of cattle, hogs, poultry, and in northern reaches, dairy production.
“The vast majority of our customers’ farming operations are family-owned. We have a lot of father-and-son teams in the Southeast,” said Rodgers, who himself grew up on a tobacco farm. “A lot of our younger customers are very tuned in to technology. Some of them use technology in ways I could have never believed. They’re very progressive farmers who stay on top of the latest technology and equipment.”
Why innovation is so important to Carolina Eastern
Those progressive growers who make up a large share of Carolina Eastern’s customers make it important for Rodgers and his team to be just as informed on ag technology. That’s translated to a lot of additions to the company’s product and service offerings over the years, a process that Rodgers said is ongoing at Carolina Eastern.
“We have to stay tuned into technology,” Rodgers said. “We offer pretty much whatever ag services our customers need, whether it’s soil and tissue sampling, drone service, precision planting or precision fertilizer applications.”
A major part of that diversification and innovation came with Carolina Eastern’s development of Crop Excellence in 2017. It’s a line of specialty products like micronutrients, adjuvants and surfactants that enable customers to push crop yield thresholds. Rodgers said his team is “continually tweaking” the product line to maximize its benefits to the range of crops Carolina Eastern customers grow.
Why Carolina Eastern sees AAD as a good fit
The company has a fairly simple operating strategy that’s entirely customer-focused. “Our philosophy is ‘Know your customers, know their needs, meet those needs and more, and always follow through,’” Rodgers said.
Independence has also been a key trait of Carolina Eastern from day one. And though the ag retail business environment has changed immensely in the 52 years since the company’s start, Rodgers sees the company his father co-founded remaining independent. It’s a big reason why he became an Aligned Ag Distributors (AAD) owner in 2024.
“We have no aspirations of selling this company, especially now with the third generation that just came in a few years ago and a lot of young, very smart people in our business now. We’ve been here 52 years, and I think we feel comfortable about holding our own,” Rodgers said. “We owe it to our customers to be as competitive as we can be.”
That’s admittedly a challenge, but one that Carolina Eastern’s ownership of AAD will help Rodgers, Phillips and their team overcome.
“It’s a battle sometimes to be competitive, especially in the crop protection market. In this industry, there’s strength in numbers,” Rodgers said. “We feel like being an AAD owner will give us a strong arm to lean on that will put us in a more competitive situation in the crop protection market so we can not only maintain but continue to grow our business.”
The interactivity and collaboration with other independent regional ag retailers is another benefit Rodgers expects to be big for Carolina Eastern. Strong relationships have always been a big part of how Rodgers and his team do business. The company’s AAD ownership will strengthen existing relationships and build new ones that will create new benefits for Carolina Eastern.
“It’s great to associate with like-minded business owners who are independent and share our philosophy. I look forward to learning from them,” Rodgers said. “It’s not a huge group and that’s a really good thing. I’m sure I will be able to pick up the phone and call any other owner and chat anytime I want or need to, and vice versa.”
