BEHIND THE GRAIN

It all started with a bunch of ducks.

We started Tidewater Grain Co. as means of making the economics work for our small, family-focused hunt club in Eastern North Carolina. Ducks love water and long grass to hide in. Carolina Gold Rice fit the bill and could fetch a higher price at market than other crops like corn. Eastern North Carolina was once a major producer of Carolina Gold in the late 19th and early 20th centuries but hurricanes in the early 1900s nearly wiped out the crop. We resolved to bring it back. Our first crop was planted in 2018 and today, we touch every part of the process — from planting to harvest, from milling to packaging, to direct wholesale and consumer retail, to education and shipping.

And, yes, we're still crazy about ducks.

— Al & Tommy, Founders

Born from a love of the outdoors, fellowship around food, and a penchant for tall tales.

MEET THE FOUNDERS

Al Spruill, Founder

A fifth-generation farmer, Al studied agriculture at NC State University. He started with 600 acres in 1988 and now farms over 4,000 acres of field crops, including corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton and turfgrass. Al's kids help run the farm today and the seventh-generation is right behind them. He once dreamed of a magical run in the Kentucky Derby as a horse jockey. Realizing his 6’7” frame wouldn’t support this dream, he still copes with the disappointment.

Tommy Wheeler, Founder

After studying physics at Davidson College, Tommy landed in NASCAR. He worked as a team engineer, engineering manager and technical director for teams like Hendrick Motorsports and Evernham Motorsports. He ended his career as operations director and general manager of Roush Fenway Racing in 2021. If you're wondering how a NASCAR engineer became a farmer, so is Tommy.

The History of Carolina Gold Rice

Carolina Gold Rice is the original rice to the Americas.

This heirloom grain is the great granddaddy of most of the rice grown in America today. It is said that its American roots trace back to the late 1680’s in the port of Charleston, SC. The story goes that the captain of a merchant ship from Madagascar used his cargo of rice seed to pay for much needed ship repairs.

The seed landed in the hands of an ambitious farmer named Dr. Henry Woodward. He planted the first crop of rice in the Americas and it flourished. Soon, rice was the cash crop. Production took over the South Carolina lowlands. Rice plantations began moving north into the coastal plain, known as the Tidewater region. This stretch of coastal land went from Eastern North Carolina up into Virginia.

Rice farming in the Carolinas thrived for nearly 200 years due to the region’s fertile soil, river waters to flood the plain and nearby coastal ports to facilitate easy distribution to England and Europe.

With the end of the Civil War, the labor force for Southern coastal plantations, made up primarily of enslaved people, all but disappeared.

In the early 1900’s came market pressures, a series of destructive hurricanes and the boom of commodity farming, all of which combined to effectively end rice farming in North Carolinas.

That is until now. The Tidewater Grain Company is proud to announce that after a 120-year hiatus; Carolina Gold Rice production is back in Eastern North Carolina.

Meet the Team