f ! u r* r «fT. .7vr'(^ A26- Lancaster Fanning, Saturday; June 26, 1996 (Continued from Pago A 1) requiring full- and part-time labor on a consistent basis. Students will have to know how milk is pro duced and the certainty of sustain ing farms in and around major urban areas such as Reading. And to do so, ag zoning will have to involve all the municipali ties working together, developing multimunicipal planning, a com prehensive plan based on school districts that will allow farming to remain viable in the county, according to the extension agent. Late last week, superintendents of schools in Berks County found out how important agriculture is to business. They visited Clover Farms Dairy, which employs about 235 ftill-timc, processing milk from 100 dairy farms in the county. Tom Mullety, vice president of sales for Clover, said the dairy also purchases milk from the Maryland-Virginia Milk Market ing Cooperative and Dairylea. During the tour, Donna King of Clover Dairy Farms, noted that orders are taken for drinks and packaged accordingly, including citrus punch, lemonade, ice tea, and others. Notice the way orange juice and milk products are loaded on this linked assembly area to the refrigerator. Dr. Larry Schmidt, Conrad Weiser Area School District superintendent, second from left, visited the farm operated by Dennis and Betsy Sattazahn, Womelsdorf. Zahncroft Farm is home to about 55 milking stock and about 50 young stock, all regis tered Holsteins. In front of the combine, from left, Steve Mohn, Schmidt, and the Satta zahns, Ray, Doug, Dennis, and Betsy. Berks County About 65 percent of their products are milk and the remainder are other items, including teas, fla vored drinks, juices, nutritional drinks, and others. The company employs families from the Berks County region and, according to Mullery, family word-of-mouth is important to obtaining good workers. He emphasized the importance of recruiting a good workforce and the critical role schools play in pro viding quality employees. To meet growing demand for product, Mullery noted that Clover intends to expand, including adding additional refrigerator space to handle a wide array of products. The new space, only in the proposed stages, would include more receiving doors and perhaps a larger workforce. The company is in partnership with Teamsters 429. One superintendent noted it was important to teach students about agriculture because it is something “that takes place every day in com- t f ’"Mi \ r:: jt* tI t I > «« « I « I I I I • « ! > ’ t * Cf / ? f School Superintendents Tour muni tics, and students need to learn how it affects them.” And high schools should learn to pro vide the skills necessary for work dairy processors need, according to other superintendents at the tour. Superintendents were allowed to tour the factory, including the receiving, processing, refrigera tion, and shipping areas. In the receiving area, two trucks were being unloaded. One, a Mount Joy Cooperative truck dri ven by Jake Wise, contained about 6,000 gallons of milk from six farms in the Elvetson area. Testing it was Dave Boltz, milk receiver. Clover tests the milk for antibiotics and bacteria content using the SNAP Beta Lactam Test Procedure, which Boltz demonstrated. The milk is stored in four silos. One holds 505,000 pounds, another 425,000 pounds, one 465.000 pounds, and another 340.000 pounds. From die farm, the temperature of the milk is kept at 40 degrees or lower. At the plant, ice tea products ate mixed. They can be blended from several silos. At one, Merrill Coda, drink mixer, was placing ice tea Testing the milk at Clover was Dave Boltz, milk receiver. Clover tests the milk for antibiotics and bacteria content using the SNAP Beta Lactam Test Procedure, which Boltz demonstrated. At the plant, ice tea products are mixed. They can he blended from several silos. At one, Merrill <3ode, drink mhs - was placing ice tea powder into a blender for mixing. One drink packaged include* the Foodservice Resource Health Shake. Clover also packages milk for GAF Seelig from New York City, here on the packaging line. ■/ * -•■4 powder into a blender for mixing. During the tour, Donna King of Clover Dairy Farms, noted that orders arc taken for drinks and (Turn to Pago A3O)