Ep.#114: Piedmont Fertilizer

A 114-year-old fertilizer company shows how tradition and smart pivots keep a community growing, from cattle pastures to neighborhood lawns. We share how family ownership, agronomy know-how, and simple guidance help people overcome fear and start.

• origins in 1910 and four generations of family ownership
• what the company does from custom farm applications to retail support
• the Piedmont region’s soil and the peacock brand history
• Mike’s path through nonprofit, logistics and management
• balancing farms with growing landscaping and retail demand
• practical encouragement to start small and learn the basics
• open to the public for single-bag purchases and quick coaching
• location, website and ways to connect

www.piedmontfertilizer.com

Transcript

Welcome And Guest Intro

SPEAKER_00 0:00

This is the Good Neighbor Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbors come together. Here's your host, Susannah Hodges.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Welcome, and with me is Mike Buckaloo. He is the president of Piedmont Fertilizer. Welcome, Mike. It's a pleasure to have you today.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Thank you, Susanna. I'm glad to be here.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

Well, Piedmont Fertilizer has been uh in Opalica for many years. Tell us a little bit about the history of the business and what you guys do.

Century-Old Roots And Family Ownership

SPEAKER_01 0:33

Sure. So um it has been in business since 1910. It has been in the Jackson family for four generations now. And my wife and her siblings own it now after her father passed away. And um and it's a fertilizer manufacturer. We actually have our own brand that's been around since 1910. It's a P foul fertilizer. If you see it in a store, that is our particular brand. Um, we are uh commercial applicators, um, so we work with farms, uh spraying and and putting five tons of fertilizer at a time on a farm uh in the big trucks. Uh we mix it to your specifications. Um and mainly what we do is we know how to grow grass. Uh most of the farmers in this area do cattle. So uh that translates well to your yard as well. We have two agronomists on staff. They know a lot about weeds and a lot about grass and how to make it grow well in this this type of soil here in the Piedmont. So that's what we do.

What Piedmont Fertilizer Does

SPEAKER_02 1:37

So tell me about about the word about Piedmont. That's a uh you said that was what does Piedmont mean?

SPEAKER_01 1:44

So Piedmont is just the type of soil that region we're in. We're in the Piedmont region. Okay. So um we're kind of in between the end of the Appalachians and not quite at the coast. And so Piedmont is just really a name for this area.

SPEAKER_02 1:59

Okay, and I noticed that um your your logo is a beautiful peacock. Does that is that why you name it P File Fertilizer?

SPEAKER_01 2:08

Yes, so we actually still have in our safe the original uh patent from 1910. Oh and that uh that the peacock we've been using lately is the original 1910 peacock, the little taller one.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_01 2:22

We tried to go back to that just to emphasize the history. I just think it's kind of neat. And um, so that's the brand, that's a stamp they put on when they used to be 200-pound bags of fertilizer back in the day, and uh they'd come into town and they'd uh have their oxen and cart, and they'd load 200-pound bags of fertilizer on it and take it back out to the farm and they'd spread it out.

SPEAKER_02 2:43

Amazing.

The Piedmont Name And Peacock Brand

SPEAKER_01 2:44

We have trucks and that's easier and uh 50-pound bags instead of 200.

SPEAKER_02 2:48

Right.

SPEAKER_01 2:49

I couldn't lift a 200-pound bag.

SPEAKER_02 2:51

Uh-uh. Yeah, I love it. Well, tell me a little bit about your journey. How did you get into the business? Or maybe even you said it was your wife and her siblings. Uh, they are also involved. So tell me a little bit about it.

Mike’s Path Into The Business

SPEAKER_01 3:08

They are owners, um, they are not involved in the day-to-day anymore. Um, but it started with uh my wife's um great-grandfather started it, and then his son Henry took it over and ran it for a long time. Carson, my father-in-law, ran it after him, and um and we were here and available, and uh it's interesting. My journey, uh Laurel and I married later, so we've been married six years. So I've I've been in the business for five. Uh it just worked out. I was previously in Tuscaloosa. Don't don't hurt me, all the fans, uh and uh and for me it's really interesting because each stop in my journey, I started out in nonprofit work and then in logistics and then in a management company. Each stop, I kind of ask God, why am I here? What am I learning here? Um, but being at Piedmont, I realized that each of those places, I've taken a piece of what I've learned from each place, and it really, you know, fits together in what we're doing now. So, like I said, we have two agronomists on staff who know how to grow grass like nobody else, and I've learned a lot from them. But I I think I have uh been able to contribute to the backside of the business, the logistics and the and the organizing of of of our how we do things. So um, so I'm still learning, uh but um, but I'm also bringing some of my skills that I've learned to to make the business run more smoothly.

SPEAKER_02 4:39

So well, what are some of the things that you like to do? We'll turn our we'll turn our uh conversation here to you for a minute here. What do you guys like to do for fun when you're not working on the fertilizer business?

Family Life And Travel

SPEAKER_01 4:50

Yeah, so we have a 12-year-old, so that dominates uh his skills that dominate some of our time right now. He's in sixth grade and um he he's just stretching his wings and and as 12-year-olds do and finding their independence. So we I spend a lot of time uh with him running around to his things. Uh Laurel and I, we love to travel when we get the chance, and we love to to invest in things that that Sewell is interested in. So we uh like a couple of years ago, he's interested in World War II. We took him, we went to France. We went to fun. We went to uh the Anne Frank house in Amsterdam. Uh so we try and we try and do things that that he enjoys, but we'd love to travel as well. Um, and we have a little uh small A-frame up in Michigan where I'm from. Uh so we go back in the summertime there, it's on Lake Huron near Mackinac Island, and and we uh we spend a few weeks every year up there, and uh so we we enjoy getting out and doing and seeing.

Entrepreneurship Challenges And Market Shifts

SPEAKER_02 5:48

So very good, yeah. Yeah, well, part of the reason I do this podcast is to encourage people to you know follow their dreams, and if that dream is going into business for yourself, I like to you know encourage people to do that. And obviously, this business has been a family-run business since 1910. And uh, so you guys have been through a lot of ups and downs, and I think people would like to hear about some of the challenges that businesses endure, maybe if it if it either it's personal or challenges in the business that you've overcome that's made you personally stronger or the business stronger. A lot of times entrepreneurship has, you know, you're gonna have obstacles you've got to overcome. And those things just make you stronger. What are some of the things you've had to overcome?

SPEAKER_01 6:39

Well, I think uh, first of all, if you've got a dream, sometimes you just need to overcome your own fear uh of stepping out there and trying it.

SPEAKER_02 6:48

That's right.

Open To The Public And DIY Support

SPEAKER_01 6:49

I think that that so many people are afraid to take that first step. And once you get that first step, it starts to go. The challenge in our business is that obviously in 1910 there was a lot of farmland around, and a lot of that farmland we used to fertilize for farmland is now houses. That's right. And we've had to adjust um, you know, our focus a little bit, not not taking away from what we do with farms, but also adding in more of the landscape and and retail side of things. I think in 1910, if they if they said we're gonna sell fertilizer in 50-pound bags and put it on somebody's yard, they'd say, Why why are you doing that? Why why are we spending that much money on that? Or or what you're gonna sell feed for deer? I mean, deer can fend for themselves. Uh, you know, why are you uh so it it it is aware of of differing trends and how people are are uh differing interests. Um so you've got to be well aware and kind of looking ahead at where are where are people going, where is the industry you're in going, and not be afraid to say, well, we've always done it this way, but maybe we should try something a little different. Um tap our our way into that.

SPEAKER_02 8:09

Um, what is one thing that you wish people knew about uh Piedmont fertilizer that they may not realize?

SPEAKER_01 8:19

Uh one we're open to the public. I think a lot of times people think, oh, that's for uh a landscaper or a you know farmer, but you can come in and buy one bag of seed, uh bag of feed, one bag of fertilizer. You may be a person who is saying, you someone used to do my yard, but I want to try it myself. We're we're more than willing to and oftentimes do uh sit down with somebody for 10 or 15 minutes and kind of explain the basics. Um it's it's not difficult. It it just takes a little bit of knowledge, and I think people uh people sometimes are afraid, afraid of that.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

So Right, right, to to take on your own um your own landscaping, right? Your own fertilizing of your yard. And I heard a little puppy there. Who's that?

SPEAKER_01 9:09

Sorry about that. That is that is I came home uh to to sit with y'all because it's so crazy in the office, and uh he just wants to say hi. I'm sorry.

Location, Website, And Closing

SPEAKER_02 9:20

No, it's no problem at all. Yeah, well, how can people learn more about Piedmont? Where are you located? Do you guys have a website, phone number, that kind of thing?

SPEAKER_01 9:29

Yeah, so we've been located on the corner of 2nd Avenue and 2nd Street, Nopaleika, all since 1910. We're in the same same office from 1910 there. Um we have a website you can go to, uh just Piedmontfertilizer.com. It's pretty extensive. You can learn a lot uh from there. Um, but either way, come see us.

SPEAKER_02 9:50

Absolutely. Well, I've enjoyed learning more about you, Mike, and Piedmont Fertilizer. Thanks so much for being with me.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

Absolutely. Thank you so much for your time. Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor Podcast Auburn. To nominate your favorite local businesses to be featured on the show, go to gnpauburn.com. That's gnpauburn.com. Or call 334 429 7404.