NEWS & VIEWS • SEPTEMBER 2025 9 Fire protection for a timber farmer is of the utmost importance and being ready for any fire event is critical. The correct and sufficient equipment with well trained staff are fundamental in ensuring area is not lost or kept to a minimum. Staff on Fairfield Estate are equipped with the correct PPE to protect them from the dangers of fire and trained so that they are aware of how to extinguish fires. One can never have enough water at a fire, for which Matthew has planned well with tractor drawn tenders and bakkie sakkies utilised with filler points around the farm available for quick and easy refilling. Biannual burn being undertaken on an open area in maintenance phase. Fairfield Estates fire crew. All landowners are aware of their social responsibility. Here Matthew employees his staff from the local community transported in daily. Between Matthew’s own operations and those of the harvesting contractor, there are 60 permanent employees at Fairfield Estates. Assistance is given to the local school by mowing all the school grounds and soccer field. The farm dam is opened to the local school’s for their annual fund-raising fishing competitions. Matthew has served as the Sevenoaks Fire Protection Office as well as being part of the Umvoti Agricultural Society’s committee, admitting that he’s never served on any industry forums. Matthew lives by his daily mantra of “If you do your very best every day, you have to succeed”. A closing comment made by Matthew: “It brings me immense joy that our sons, Jasper, and Felix, share the same love for the land. Watching them grow into the rhythm of farm life is one of my proudest experiences, and I hope to one day pass on Fairfield to them, just as it was passed down to me” The future of Fairfield Estate, Jasper and Felix Crowe.
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