Editor's note: We're featuring the 2015 Master Farmers this week, thanks to interviews by University of Illinois student Kelsey Litchfield, completed during her RFD internship last summer.

As 2015 draws to a close and the staff at Prairie Farmer is gearing up recognize the 2016 Master Farmer class, we wanted to take a look back at the 2015 class.

During her summer internship at RFD radio, University of Illinois student Kelsey Litchfield interviewed each of the Prairie Farmer Master Farmers. "It was the highlight of my summer," Kelsey confided.

We'd tend to agree.

Randy and Suzanne DeSutter

Check out Kelsey's interview below with Randy DeSutter, and stay tuned throughout the week for more interviews with 2015 Master Farmers, Bill Christ, Don Schrader and John Werries.

The 2016 Master Farmers will be announced in early March, here online.

Randy DeSutter: Family, adaptation are keys to success

Some might argue that joining the family farm in 1979 wasn't ideal timing.

Randy DeSutter firmly agrees. "It was pretty tough, when interest rates were high and land was worth half what you paid for it. Grain prices were terrible. Anybody that survived the '80s did pretty well, in my book."

Family is first on the DeSutter family's Woodhull operation. Randy and his wife, Suzanne, a stay-at-home mom, farm together and are parents to Matthew and Kristin. Today Randy farms with his brothers Mike and Jim (who also works as a bank examiner), and with Randy's son, Matthew, and Jim's son, Drew. Randy's father, Maurice DeSutter, was named a Master Farmer in 1982 and still helps in the operation.

Follow along this week as we profile the 2015 Master Farmers (L-R) Don Schrader, John Werries, Bill Christ and Randy DeSutter.

While there are few fond memories of the 1980s, Randy credits government programs with getting him started in no-till. Early drills were ineffective at best, but the John Deere 750 drill was a game changer for them. It worked well, and soon the DeSutters realized there was no appreciable yield difference between where they no-tilled and where they didn't.

In addition to 100% no-till, Randy and his family have installed countless waterways, drop boxes and block chutes to reduce erosion, and enrolled nearly five miles of buffer strips in the Conservation Reserve Program last fall, to protect creeks.

Until 1994, the DeSutters fed 1,000 head of cattle a year. Until 1995, they finished 2,000 to 4,000 head of feeder pigs a year. They exited both businesses due to aging facilities and location. They converted their silos to grain storage, and use barns for equipment storage.

Off the farm, Randy has become known as a voice for production agriculture, and just as often, a voice of reason. Randy has been involved with local education foundation efforts, and served on the Knox County Board for nine years – retiring from it only when meetings began to conflict with his children's sports schedules.

He's served Illinois agriculture in three commodities (beef, corn and soybeans) and has worked at the national level on behalf of both beef and soybeans. He's also a proud and loyal University of Illinois alumni, and a former Illinois State FFA officer.

Meet the Master Farmers:
Bill Christ
Randy DeSutter
Don Schrader
John Werries