diff --git a/pkg/storage/unified/resource/data/sqlkv_insert_datastore.sql b/pkg/storage/unified/resource/data/sqlkv_insert_datastore.sql
index 8372eb73463..72026e26362 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/unified/resource/data/sqlkv_insert_datastore.sql
+++ b/pkg/storage/unified/resource/data/sqlkv_insert_datastore.sql
@@ -12,7 +12,7 @@ INSERT INTO {{ .Ident .TableName }}
 VALUES (
   {{ .Arg .GUID }},
   {{ .Arg .KeyPath }},
-  COALESCE({{ .Arg .Value }}, ""),
+  {{ .Arg .Value }},
   {{ .Arg .Group }},
   {{ .Arg .Resource }},
   {{ .Arg .Namespace }},
diff --git a/pkg/storage/unified/resource/data/sqlkv_insert_legacy_resource_history.sql b/pkg/storage/unified/resource/data/sqlkv_insert_legacy_resource_history.sql
index 437d3ae9107..77680d190ff 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/unified/resource/data/sqlkv_insert_legacy_resource_history.sql
+++ b/pkg/storage/unified/resource/data/sqlkv_insert_legacy_resource_history.sql
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ INSERT INTO {{ .Ident "resource_history" }}
   {{ .Ident "folder" }}
 )
 VALUES (
-  COALESCE({{ .Arg .Value }}, ""),
+  {{ .Arg .Value }},
   {{ .Arg .GUID }},
   {{ .Arg .Group }},
   {{ .Arg .Resource }},
diff --git a/pkg/storage/unified/resource/data/sqlkv_save_event.sql b/pkg/storage/unified/resource/data/sqlkv_save_event.sql
index 669497dbb19..0091c6e1347 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/unified/resource/data/sqlkv_save_event.sql
+++ b/pkg/storage/unified/resource/data/sqlkv_save_event.sql
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ INSERT INTO {{ .Ident .TableName }}
 )
 VALUES (
   {{ .Arg .KeyPath }},
-  COALESCE({{ .Arg .Value }}, "")
+  {{ .Arg .Value }}
 )
 {{- if eq .DialectName "mysql" }}
 ON DUPLICATE KEY UPDATE {{ .Ident "value" }} = {{ .Arg .Value }}
diff --git a/pkg/storage/unified/resource/sqlkv.go b/pkg/storage/unified/resource/sqlkv.go
index bae3c776d79..73f3f5aea74 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/unified/resource/sqlkv.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/unified/resource/sqlkv.go
@@ -349,6 +349,11 @@ func (w *sqlWriteCloser) Close() error {
 	}
 
 	w.closed = true
+	value := w.buf.Bytes()
+	if value == nil {
+		// to prevent NOT NULL constraint violations
+		value = []byte{}
+	}
 
 	// do regular kv save: simple key_path + value insert with conflict check.
 	// can only do this on resource_events for now, until we drop the columns in resource_history
@@ -356,7 +361,7 @@ func (w *sqlWriteCloser) Close() error {
 		_, err := dbutil.Exec(w.ctx, w.kv.db, sqlKVSaveEvent, sqlKVSaveRequest{
 			SQLTemplate:     sqltemplate.New(w.kv.dialect),
 			sqlKVSectionKey: w.sectionKey,
-			Value:           w.buf.Bytes(),
+			Value:           value,
 		})
 
 		if err != nil {
@@ -380,7 +385,7 @@ func (w *sqlWriteCloser) Close() error {
 				SQLTemplate:     sqltemplate.New(w.kv.dialect),
 				sqlKVSectionKey: w.sectionKey,
 				GUID:            uuid.New().String(),
-				Value:           w.buf.Bytes(),
+				Value:           value,
 			})
 
 			if err != nil {
@@ -397,7 +402,7 @@ func (w *sqlWriteCloser) Close() error {
 		_, err = dbutil.Exec(w.ctx, w.kv.db, sqlKVUpdateData, sqlKVSaveRequest{
 			SQLTemplate:     sqltemplate.New(w.kv.dialect),
 			sqlKVSectionKey: w.sectionKey,
-			Value:           w.buf.Bytes(),
+			Value:           value,
 		})
 
 		if err != nil {
@@ -433,7 +438,7 @@ func (w *sqlWriteCloser) Close() error {
 	_, err = dbutil.Exec(w.ctx, tx, sqlKVInsertLegacyResourceHistory, sqlKVSaveRequest{
 		SQLTemplate:     sqltemplate.New(w.kv.dialect),
 		sqlKVSectionKey: w.sectionKey,
-		Value:           w.buf.Bytes(),
+		Value:           value,
 		GUID:            dataKey.GUID,
 		Group:           dataKey.Group,
 		Resource:        dataKey.Resource,
diff --git a/pkg/storage/unified/sql/db/migrations/resource_mig.go b/pkg/storage/unified/sql/db/migrations/resource_mig.go
index 0f19ae01d93..8f9be689718 100644
--- a/pkg/storage/unified/sql/db/migrations/resource_mig.go
+++ b/pkg/storage/unified/sql/db/migrations/resource_mig.go
@@ -217,5 +217,8 @@ func initResourceTables(mg *migrator.Migrator) string {
 
 	migrator.ConvertUniqueKeyToPrimaryKey(mg, oldResourceVersionUniqueKey, updatedResourceVersionTable)
 
+	mg.AddMigration("Change key_path collation of resource_history in postgres", migrator.NewRawSQLMigration("").Postgres(`ALTER TABLE resource_history ALTER COLUMN key_path TYPE VARCHAR(2048) COLLATE "C";`))
+	mg.AddMigration("Change key_path collation of resource_events in postgres", migrator.NewRawSQLMigration("").Postgres(`ALTER TABLE resource_events ALTER COLUMN key_path TYPE VARCHAR(2048) COLLATE "C";`))
+
 	return marker
 }