Geraldine H. Fedoronko is a Level 1 Conservation Planning Specialist in the USDA-NRCS field office in Burgaw, North Carolina.  Mrs. Fedoronko, who is better known to her coworkers as ‘Dean’, is responsible for providing technical and administrative support, guidance to landowners for conservation practices, the preparation of contracts, the inspection of conservation plans under construction and contract status reviews.  Although her responsibilities involve a great deal of paperwork, it is her time in the field that is especially enjoyable for her. 

Besides surveying for new conservation measures, such as waterways, Mrs. Fedoronko visits landowner sites to check out new conservation measures currently underway.  In her area, one of the conservation practices promoted by NRCS is “no-till crops”.   This enables the landowner to cut down a field after harvest, spray it with weed killer, and then plant a different type of crop directly into the ground without tilling the soil.  This procedure helps the soil retain nutrients and prevents erosion. 

Another practice she has been involved with is water conservation on hog farms.   This is done by installing cup waters so that the water runs only when the hogs drink from the cups.  When one considers that these farms support up to 4,000 hogs, this measure can mean a huge savings in terms of water and power. 

In addition to having earned an Associates Degree in Business Administration from Cape Fear Community College, Mrs. Fedoronko still owns a farm on which she worked for 15 years and is very familiar with environmental terms and conservation.  Her background also includes work in the ACES Pilot Project.  When the ACES Program actually began, she had to wait to meet the age requirement before she applied.  While waiting, she kept up with what was going on in NRCS, stayed in contact, and did some volunteer work for NRCS.  Mrs. Fedoronko says that when she celebrated her 55th birthday, it was the first time she had ever been excited about getting older.