New Hartford man's

project aids African farmers

For a year and a half James Norton has been tinkering with a plow to help Ugandan farmers.

In a month, he will get to see the fruits of his labors.

Norton and his wife, Mary, will travel to Africa to help their son work with farmers there to make their land more productive year after year. The New Hartford man has created a small plow to be dragged by oxen in the fields where Ugandans grow corn and beans.

"I'm anxious to get over there and see how it works out," Norton said.

Norton retired from Schoitz Engineering a decade ago. His son, Jay Norton, is a professor at the University of Wyoming who secured a grant from the United States Agency for International Development for five years of work to promote sustainable farming in Kenya and Uganda.

After traveling to Africa to analyze the situation, Jay Norton realized a major problem was soil compaction. The type of plow they use loosens top soil, but turns the ground 4 inches beneath into hardpan. As a result, the farmers do well in wet years, but in dry years the ground is unable to hold water and crops fail.

Jay Norton approached his father in 2010 about constructing a plow that allows farmers to get deeper into the soil. They set about work and came up with a number of models. James Norton created several models in his workshop at his home near New Hartford. Eventually, they contracted with Custom Blacksmithing in Waterloo to produce the parts for the final model.

Two models of the final version are being shipped to Africa this week to try in the fields. James Norton already gave it a try, going to Amish country and hooking the plow to a horse. In addition to testing the plow, the Nortons will visit local blacksmith shops in Uganda to see if they could produce the plows themselves.

"Our goal is to see how happy they are with it and then look for someone to build it over there," Norton said.

Part of the design process was to make it simple, a design that could be replicated in African shops. Norton thinks he has done a good job of that, but is concerned one complex part may have to be constructed in the United States and shipped overseas.

If this project goes well, James Norton already has his sights set on the next one. He wants to design a corn planter farmers could use along with the plow.