Camillo Tarello

Camillo Tarello (about 1513 to 1573) was an agronomist of the Venetian territories, a native of Lonato del Garda. Troubled by the neglected and badly managed state of husbandry in his country, he wrote a short treatise, the Ricordo d'agricoltura, and presented it to the Senate of Venice. On 29 September 1566 the Senate granted him a patent for a new farming system built on crop rotation, with a payment due to him and his descendants from every acre of land worked by his method. With another Brescian agronomist, Agostino Gallo, he promoted clover as a fodder crop around 1550, arguing that its roots enrich the soil and that it suits the ground before flax. His book became an important reference in early modern agricultural theory and was still discussed by Albrecht Thaer in the nineteenth century. The description rests on the English Wikipedia article, which gives the birth year as approximate.