Gabriel Alonso de Herrera

Gabriel Alonso de Herrera (1470–1539) was a Spanish agronomist and cleric, born at Talavera de la Reina, who became chaplain to Cardinal Cisneros. After studying in Granada, where he ran praised market gardens as early as 1502, he travelled through Italy and France gathering agricultural knowledge.

Commissioned by Cisneros, his Obra de Agricultura was printed at Alcalá de Henares in 1513, blending classical authorities such as Columella and Palladius with Muslim farming practices he had learned in Granada. It covered crops, livestock, veterinary medicine and weather, ran through many editions and remained a standard handbook into the twentieth century.