Robert Toelle Becomes Water Quality Certified
Robert Toelle joins the rising number of producers becoming certified as water quality stewards through the Minnesota Agricultural Water Quality Certification Program (MAWQCP) - a voluntary opportunity that certifies farmers taking the lead in implementing conservation-minded practices to protect water quality. Toelle’s operation accompanies over 1,500 producers in Minnesota, who farm more than one million certified acres within the program.
“It was good for us to become certified because the process helped us improve our conservation efforts,” Toelle explained. “Plus, it also opened the door to many other opportunities to learn and potentially receive additional funding.”
Toelle achieved water quality certification for his tracts of land in Traverse and Big Stone counties in August of 2025. His operation mainly focuses on cropland where corn and soybeans are rotated over approximately 5,000 acres of land. To aid in reducing soil loss in his fields, Toelle has implemented no-till for the past 25 years, as well as conservation tillage and cover crops on some of his fields.
No-till is a technique where crops are grown without disturbing the soil, whereas conservation tillage is any form of tillage where 30% or more of the soil is covered with crop residue. Cover crops are non-cash crops grown for the enrichment and protection of the soil’s surface. In conjunction, these conservation practices help increase soil organic matter, improve soil structure, and reduce erosion, thereby protecting the surrounding water quality.
In the future, Toelle plans to purchase a strip-till machine to transition his cropland acres, which he hopes will improve his seedbed emergence and overall yields. Strip tillage is a type of minimal tillage that only disturbs the portion of soil needed to sow seeds, which, for Toelle’s operation, is the ‘best of both worlds’ for the tillage he is already implementing.
“The public is always looking to farmers when it comes to being good stewards of the land,” Toelle said. “So, this certification process has been a good effort to put forward to showcase that we’re doing the right things for the environment.”
Overall, Toelle’s current management practices in their farming operation result in the conservation of natural resources, where water quality is protected, and soil erosion is reduced.
