Not only is he going to spend about three months overseas as a 2018 Nuffield scholar, learning about global agricultural practices, he and wife Emily are expecting their first baby in July.
Dr Norton, of Port Chalmers, manages the industry-funded national animal health and productivity programme for Johnes Management Ltd and was named as one of five scholars at Parliament on November 2.
As part of his application, he had to submit a research proposal, which will be one of the focuses of his overseas trips next year.
''I was interested in looking at how our farming systems are going to stay profitable and sustainable during the next 10 to 20 years in the face of energy constraints,'' Dr Norton said.
''I want to look at all parts of the farm [operations] and break them down into energy components.''
He said a farm used energy in all forms, from diesel and electricity to the energy required to manufacture farm equipment such as tractors, or make and deliver fertilisers, pesticides and animal health products
''Everything brought on to a farm has energy components, from fenceposts to tractors,'' he said.
As an example, a tractor is made from steel, rubber, plastic and labour, and all those can be broken down further and the energy required to manufacture or assemble those components can be measured.
He was interested to see how constraints such as cost increases or government restrictions of on-farm emissions would impact on farm performances.
Dr Norton said by reducing production or farm systems to energy use levels, he then could compare different or diverse farming systems using the same units of measurement.
He hoped to generate a computer model that looked at the energy required to produce farming inputs as well as what is produced and goes off farm, such as meat or milk.
''The appeal of doing it on an energy scale is it reduces everything to a nice even playing field across every system,'' he said.
He will spend about 10 days with 80 scholars at a global farming conference in the Netherlands in March.
That will be followed by a six-week tour of five or six other countries on four continents with a small group of other scholars to look at different farming systems and technologies.
That is in addition to another eight-to-10 week trip on his own later in the year that allows him to talk to researchers, scientists and other experts relevant to his particular project.
He said he was looking forward to meeting Nuffield scholars from around the world.
''They are all inspired, keen young people, so it will be an absolute blast.''
He hopes to be back in New Zealand after the first meeting in April.
''Then Emily is going to have a baby at the end of June.
''The baby will show up and hopefully everything will be tickety-boo, then I'll go back overseas in September and October.''
Deer Industry New Zealand supported his plans.
''They have been fantastic and I can't speak highly enough of them,'' he said.
-By Yvonne O'Hara