Dennis Keeney

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Dennis R. Keeney
Born (1937-07-02) July 2, 1937 (age 87)
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma mater Iowa State University (ISU)
Known forFirst Director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture at ISU, Ames, IA
Scientific career
Fieldsagronomy, soil science, water chemistry

Dennis R. Keeney (born July 2, 1937) is an American scientist in soil science and water chemistry. He was the first director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture in Ames, Iowa. He served as president of the Soil Science Society of America and the American Society of Agronomy. In 2000, he was awarded the Charles A. Black Award by the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST). [1]

Contents

Early life and education

Keeney grew up on his family's dairy farm near Runnells, Iowa not far from Des Moines. [2] Per Keeney "the farm you grew up on, at least for a couple of generations, was named after the family that lived there. It became a sense of place that we really miss, because now agriculture is large corporate farms that have no sense of place. It’s a way of life that is largely gone." [3]

He graduated from Iowa State University (ISU) with a B.S. in agronomy. He studied soil science at University of Wisconsin and obtained an M.S., followed by a Ph.D. in agronomy and biochemistry from Iowa State University. [2]

Career

Keeney became a professor of agronomy, and stayed on as faculty member in soils and water chemistry for more than 20 years. [4]

In 1987, the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture was established at ISU, and in 1988 he became its first director. The Leopold Center developed research studies and teaching about the environmental impacts of farming, sustainable agriculture, preservation of natural resources, including soil and water quality, and rural community development. Keeney defined sustainable agriculture as

"It means using the resources we have wisely. Probably number one to conserve the soil resource, the water resource, and the land resource. It's a Leopold concept really, because Leopold talked about land as the water, the air, the soil, and the animals living on it."

Already in 1988 Keeney examined the energy balance of ethanol fuel as a "renewable" fuel and concluded, that more energy was required to produce ethanol than was retrieved from it then. [5] Keeney retired from the Leopold Center in 1999. [4] He was succeeded by Fred Kirschenmann. [6]

With the corn ethanol industry rapidly expanding between 2000 and 2005, in what Keeney called "...an "irrational exuberance" trip with biofuels" he was one of few Iowa scientists looking at water consumption. [7] In 2009, Keeney published his latest peer-reviewed paper on the "Environmental, social, economic, and food issues brought on by the rapidly expanding ethanol-from-corn industry in the United States". [8] As of 2014 he has continued to publicly question its benefits. [5]

He was president of the Soil Science Society of America in 1988 [9] and the American Society of Agronomy in 1993. [10] [11] In 1998, he was awarded the Charles A. Black Award by the Council for Agricultural Science and Technology (CAST). [12]

As of 2015 he consults as a Senior Fellow for the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy in Minneapolis and the Department of Soil, Air and Water at the University of Minnesota. He is a visiting scholar for the Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins University. [13]

In February 2015 his memoir “The Keeney Place: A Life in the Heartland” was published after nine years of work. [4]

Selected publications

Keeney has published over 140 peer reviewed papers on soil and water quality research.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agricultural science</span> Academic field within biology

Agricultural science is a broad multidisciplinary field of biology that encompasses the parts of exact, natural, economic and social sciences that are used in the practice and understanding of agriculture. Professionals of the agricultural science are called agricultural scientists or agriculturists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Washington Carver</span> American botanist and inventor (1864–1943)

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Intensive farming</span> Branch of agriculture

Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming, conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of agricultural land area. It is characterized by a low fallow ratio, higher use of inputs such as capital, labour, agrochemicals and water, and higher crop yields per unit land area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Agronomy</span> Science of producing and using plants

Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and soil science. It is the application of a combination of sciences such as biology, chemistry, economics, ecology, earth science, and genetics. Professionals of agronomy are termed agronomists.

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to sustainable agriculture:

Agroecology is an academic discipline that studies ecological processes applied to agricultural production systems. Bringing ecological principles to bear can suggest new management approaches in agroecosystems. The term can refer to a science, a movement, or an agricultural practice. Agroecologists study a variety of agroecosystems. The field of agroecology is not associated with any one particular method of farming, whether it be organic, regenerative, integrated, or industrial, intensive or extensive, although some use the name specifically for alternative agriculture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aldo Leopold</span> American conservationist (1887–1948)

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In order to create ethanol, all biomass needs to go through some of these steps: it needs to be grown, collected, dried, fermented, and burned. All of these steps require resources and an infrastructure. The ratio of the energy released by burning the resulting ethanol fuel to the energy used in the process, is known as the ethanol fuel energy balance and studied as part of the wider field of energy economics. Figures compiled in a 2007 National Geographic Magazine article point to modest results for corn (maize) ethanol produced in the US: 1 unit of energy input equals 1.3 energy units of corn ethanol energy. The energy balance for sugarcane ethanol produced in Brazil is much more favorable, 1 to 8. Over the years, however, many reports have been produced with contradicting energy balance estimates. A 2006 University of California Berkeley study, after analyzing six separate studies, concluded that producing ethanol from corn uses marginally less petroleum than producing gasoline.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul B. Thompson (philosopher)</span> American philosopher

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Johannes "Hans" van Leeuwen is educator, engineer, inventor, researcher, and entrepreneur. He is an emeritus professor of Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering at Iowa State University and an entrepreneur in ethanol co-product development. His research and innovations have worked to solve various problems including, new water purification methods, a way of creating food and animal feed from waste, and a process in making the purest alcohol ever made.

Gerald Arey Miller is an American agronomist, professor, and associate dean emeritus at Iowa State University, former director of its Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension, and former Project Director for the Heartland Regional Water Coordination Initiative in Iowa. He held the rank of Major General in the United States Army.

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References

  1. ↑ "Charles A. Black Award Recipients". Council for Agricultural Science and Technology.
  2. 1 2 "Dennis Keeney". Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. n.d. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  3. ↑ Kate Fried (February 20, 2015). "Food for Thought With Dr. Dennis Keeney" (Blog). Washington DC: Food & Water Watch. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  4. 1 2 3 Anthony Capps (February 6, 2015). "- Memoir looks at life of first director of the Leopold Center". Ames Tribune. Archived from the original on 23 February 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  5. 1 2 Dennis Keeney (30 April 2014). "Dennis Keeney: The other side of corn-based ethanol". Ames Tribune. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 3 March 2015.
  6. ↑ "1987-2012". Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture. 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2015.[ permanent dead link ]
  7. ↑ Dennis Keeney and Mark Muller Water Use by Ethanol Plants: Potential Challenges October 24, 2006, IATP.
  8. ↑ Keeney D Ethanol USA. Environmental Science & Technology. 2009 Jan 1;43(1):8-11. PMID   19209577
  9. ↑ "Leopold Center Director Named" (PDF). The Practical Farmer. Vol. 3, no. 2. 1988. pp. 3–4. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  10. ↑ "NAICC Cooperates on Joint Education Workshop" (PDF). NAICC NEWS. Vol. 7, no. 7. 1993. pp. 1–2.
  11. ↑ Levins Publishing (n.d.). "The Keeney Place: A Life in the Heartland". Levins Publishing. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  12. ↑ "Charles A. Black Award Recipients". Council for Agricultural Science and Technology.
  13. ↑ College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (n.d.). "Dennis Keeney Distinguished Lecture Series". Iowa State University. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
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