Pulling a blank result - php

Question

I have not found a solution to prevent this. I am using PHP to self populate my option fields so I don't have to manually add them all in. I have four select fields and three out of the four work perfect but the fourth one.
On the company field it will populate one blank field and then it populates the rest just fine. I have a solution for this that will remove this space but I was informed that it is not the best practice. Anyone think they know a better and more correct way of achieving this?
PHP Select Field
<label for="company">Company</label><br />
<select id="company" name="users" onChange="showUser(this.value)">
<?php include 'datalogin.php'; // Populates the Company select field
$result = mysqli_query($con, "SELECT DISTINCT Company FROM `roster` ORDER BY Company ASC;");
echo '<option value="">' . 'Select a Company' .'</option>';
while ($row = mysqli_fetch_array($result)) {
if ($row['Company'] == NULL) { //The empty if is to remove the blank space in the select field
}
else {
echo '<option value="'.urlencode($row['Company']).'">'.htmlspecialchars($row['Company'],ENT_QUOTES).'</option>';
}
}
?>
</select>
Ideally I was told you should use "!" to tell the if statement to echo if it is not null but it still produces the blank space:
if ($row['Company'] !== NULL) {
echo '<option value="'.urlencode($row['Company']).'">'.htmlspecialchars($row['Company'],ENT_QUOTES).'</option>';
}
This is what I mean by the blank space:
(Pretend it is a select field)
[Select a field]
[ ]
[Cleveland ]
[Columbus ]
[Toldeo ]
Live Agent Search Site

Answer 1

SELECT DISTINCT Company
FROM `roster`
WHERE LENGTH(Company) > 0
ORDER BY Company ASC;