Michael Toelle

Former Board Chair, CHS, Inc.

Board Chair, Nationwide

Michael Toelle’s decades of cooperative leadership and advocacy have strengthened the agricultural cooperative sector and championed farmer ownership, education, and long-term sustainability.

Congratulatory Listings

Congratulations, Mike Toelle, on your Cooperative Hall of Fame induction. Your leadership and service on behalf agriculture and cooperatives have created lasting value for farmers and ranchers.

CoBank congratulates Mike Toelle on his induction into the Cooperative Hall of Fame. Mike's commitment to cooperative principles, visionary leadership, and dedication to serving members have left an enduring mark on the cooperative community. We are proud to celebrate his accomplishments and this well-earned recognition.

Mike, congratulations on your induction into the 2026 Cooperative Hall of Fame. From your decades as a Minnesota farmer and cooperative leader to your service as Chairman of Nationwide's® Board of Directors, you have championed innovation, education and the strength of the cooperative business model. Your leadership has left an enduring impact on agriculture, cooperatives and the communities they serve.

Friends of Michael Toelle

Bob Bass, Former CHS Board of Directors

Cathy Statz

Dan and Karen Schurr

David R. Kayser

Jean Jantzen

John and Mary Schmitz

Julie Bosland

Karen Zimbelman

Kirstie Boyette

Lani Jordan, Tom Harm and family

Leon Westbrock

Leslie Mead

Michelle L. Schry

Steven Krikava

Thomas Larson

William J. Nelson

Born into Cooperation

Mike Toelle's cooperative story began long before he ever sat in a boardroom. Born in Graceville, Minnesota, and raised just down the road in Browns Valley, Mike grew up on a family farm that had relied on agricultural cooperatives for more than 125 years. For generations, cooperatives weren't simply where the family bought supplies or marketed grain—they were part of how the farm survived and prospered.

As a student at Browns Valley High School, Mike stayed busy with choir, band, football, basketball, track, and student council. Those experiences taught teamwork, discipline, and leadership long before he ever imagined leading one of the world's largest cooperatives.

After attending Minnesota State University Moorhead—where he also played varsity football—Mike briefly joined Harvest States Cooperatives before returning home to farm alongside his family. That decision would change not only his own life—but the future of the cooperative movement.

Sometimes leadership doesn't begin in the boardroom. Sometimes it begins with coming home.

When Your Community Needs You

One of Mike Toelle's defining characteristics has always been this: He doesn't wait for someone else to solve the problem.

When the local Browns Valley grain elevator faced financial collapse, many saw the end of an era. Mike saw an opportunity. He organized fellow producers, assembled a board, worked with lenders and attorneys, found investors, and helped recreate the elevator as a farmer-owned cooperative. Today, that cooperative continues to serve producers because local leaders refused to let it disappear.

His commitment didn't stop there. Mike volunteered as a firefighter and helped lead fundraising efforts to install an elevator in his church so elderly and disabled members could continue attending services. Those who know Mike best say these acts weren't unusual. They were simply Mike. Long before he became known nationally, Mike was already demonstrating what cooperative leadership looks like. It begins with serving your neighbors.

Helping Build a Cooperative Giant

Few cooperative leaders can say they helped shape one of the most significant moments in cooperative history. Mike can.

At just 30 years old, he became one of the youngest directors ever elected to the Cenex Board. Only a few years later, he served on the core committee responsible for merging Cenex and Harvest States Cooperatives.

The result? CHS Inc.

Today, CHS is the largest farmer-owned cooperative in the United States, a Fortune 100 company, and a global leader in agriculture and energy.

The merger required more than financial expertise. It required trust, communication, patience, and leaders willing to put the future ahead of personal interests. Mike became known as someone who could listen carefully, bridge differing viewpoints, and keep difficult conversations moving forward.

Building CHS wasn't simply creating a bigger cooperative. It was ensuring farmers would remain competitive in an increasingly global marketplace.

Education is Never Finished

If there's one idea Mike Toelle has championed throughout his career, it's this: Leadership is learned.

During his leadership as chair of the CHS Foundation, Mike helped oversee a $30 million endowment supporting scholarships, cooperative education, leadership development, and rural communities. Inside the CHS boardroom, he challenged directors to keep learning. He introduced personal development plans, encouraged directors to earn governance certifications, invited outside experts to board meetings, and organized educational trips across Asia, Europe, Australia, and beyond so directors could better understand the global marketplace.

But his favorite audiences weren't always executives. They were students. Whether speaking with FFA members, 4-H youth, college students, or emerging cooperative leaders, Mike consistently emphasized that lifelong learning is one of the greatest investments a cooperative can make.

His own life reflects that belief. Learning never stopped and neither did teaching.

Thinking Beyond the Horizon

Mike Toelle never believed cooperatives should stand still. During his leadership, CHS expanded from a primarily domestic business into one with operations in more than a dozen countries and customers across 65 nations. He also helped champion innovative financing strategies that strengthened the cooperative's ability to invest for the future while maintaining member support. Innovation wasn't always easy. But Mike believed farmer-owned businesses had to evolve if they were going to remain competitive for generations to come.

As one supporter observed, "Mike was a visionary for how cooperatives can lead in a changing marketplace to benefit their owners."

That vision continued well beyond CHS.

In 2017, Mike joined the Board of CF Industries, one of the world's leading manufacturers of nitrogen fertilizer. While today CF Industries is publicly traded, its roots trace back to the cooperative system, and CHS continues to maintain an ownership stake on behalf of its members. Mike's experience helped connect the perspectives of producers, cooperatives, and global agriculture.

Innovation, for Mike, was never about growth for growth's sake. It was about creating more opportunities for members.

Leadership Begins with Listening

People often describe great leaders as strong speakers. Those who know Mike Toelle describe him differently. They talk about how well he listens. Again and again, people point to Mike's ability to hear multiple perspectives, ask thoughtful questions, and help groups move toward consensus without losing relationships.

One colleague reflected, "I learned as much from him outside the board room... Mike is a big thinker who can talk about both the lessons of history and transforming the future, sometimes in the same sentence."

Those same qualities are why organizations beyond the cooperative community continue to seek Mike's leadership. Since 2013, he has served on the Board of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company—a member-owned mutual insurer whose policyholders are also its owners. In April 2026, Mike was elected Chair of the Board. Building on more than a decade of service on the board, he now helps lead one of the nation's largest mutual insurance companies, bringing decades of experience in governance, risk management, and long-term stewardship while advancing the member-owned principles that have shaped his career.

Whether serving a farmer-owned cooperative or a member-owned mutual company, Mike has remained committed to the same principle: organizations exist to serve the people who own them.

Always a Farmer

No matter how many boardrooms Mike Toelle entered or how many countries he visited, he never stopped being a farmer.

Today, Mike and his wife Sue continue operating T & T Farms alongside sons Ryan and John, while daughter Macy has built her own career nearby. These days, spending time with grandchildren Siena and Ellis ranks among his greatest joys.

When asked what he enjoys outside of work, his answer was wonderfully simple:
"Family, grandchildren, sports, travel."

It's a reminder that behind every cooperative leader is a person deeply rooted in community. Mike's leadership has always been grounded by the realities of life on the farm—and by the people he loves most.

A Cooperative Hero

Over four decades, Mike Toelle has helped shape cooperatives at every level—local, regional, national, and international.

He helped save a hometown cooperative and build CHS, championed education, invested in future leaders, strengthened governance, guided Nationwide as vice chair, and brought a cooperative perspective to CF industries, all the while never losing sight of the members cooperatives exists to serve.

For more than forty years, Mike Toelle has shown that the strongest cooperative leaders don't seek recognition. They build organizations, strengthen communities, mentor others, and quietly leave the cooperative movement better than they found it. For those reasons Mike will be inducted into the Cooperative Hall of Fame. Join us in Washington, DC, on October 8 as we celebrate Mike Toelle and his extraordinary contributions to the cooperative business community.

Honoring and Planning Committee

Bob Bass . David Johnsrud
Elizabeth H. Duncan . Kelly Ekvall
Ken Wise . Lani Jordan
Laura Ambielli Swisher

Nominated by:

CHS, Inc.