The Order of Agricultural Merit () is an

order of merit The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...

bestowed by the

French Republic France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

for outstanding contributions to agriculture. When it was created in 1883, it was second in importance only to the

Legion of Honour The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and Civil society, civil. Currently consisting of five cl ...

within the French

order of precedence An order of precedence is a sequential hierarchy of importance applied to individuals, groups, or organizations. For individuals, it is most often used for diplomats in attendance at very formal occasions. It can also be used in the context of ...

History

The order was established on 7 July 1883, based on the proposition of the then Minister of Agriculture

Jules Méline Félix Jules Méline (; 20 May 183821 December 1925) was a French statesman, Prime Minister of France from 1896 to 1898. Biography Méline was born at Remiremont. Having taken up law as his profession, he was chosen a deputy in 1872, and in ...

, in an effort to adequately reward services to agriculture in view of the maximum number of the Legion of Honour that could be awarded yearly. His reasoning was that more than eighteen million Frenchmen lived directly from this industry, which had a direct and powerful impact on the entire national economy (farmers, agronomists, professors, researchers, etc.). Labour was intensive and never ending, devotion was commonplace but the rewards were rare. The original 1883 decree created a single-grade order; only "Knights" () were thus decorated. The decree of 18 June 1887 added the grade of "Officer" (). A third grade, that of "Commander" (), was created by a decree of 3 August 1900. The present form and statute of the Order of Agricultural Merit were outlined in decree 59-729 of 15 June 1959. The Order comprises approximately 340,000 recipients to date, of which approximately 23,000 are alive at any given time, including all living former ministers of agriculture. Officers number approximately 60,000 to date with approximately 5,000 living, and approximately 4800 were made commanders to date, with approximately 400 living at any given time.

Award statute

The Order of Agricultural Merit rewards people who rendered exceptional services to agriculture, whether in public duties or in the very practice of agriculture. It also rewards people who distinguished themselves in scientific research or in related publications. There are two annual investiture ceremonies, the first on 1 January and the second on the 14th of July. The annual contingent has been limited to 60 commanders, 600 officers and 2,400 knights. Award prerequisites are as follows: *Knight: be at least thirty years of age with fifteen years of service/work; *Officer: at least five years as a Member of the order; *Commander: at least five years as an Officer of the order. Conditions of age and of seniority may be lowered for candidates who have outstanding qualifications. A 5% contingency is allowed for people gaining direct entry into the order as officers or commanders for exceptional reasons. Foreigners receiving the order are not subject to the seniority clause. Members of the Order of the Legion of Honour may be admitted to the Order of Agricultural Merit at the same rank they hold in the first. An award certificate always accompanies the order.

Insignia

The Order of Agricultural Merit is in the form of a 40mm (35mm for pre November 1999) wide star, 60mm for the commander's insignia, with six white enamelled arms, the arms resting on a gilt wreath of wheat on the right and of corn on the left. On the

obverse The obverse and reverse are the two flat faces of coins and some other two-sided objects, including paper money, flags, seals, medals, drawings, old master prints and other works of art, and printed fabrics. In this usage, ''obverse'' ...

at its center, a gilt medallion bearing the effigy of the republic in the form of the relief right profile of a woman's head, the medallion is surrounded by a narrow blue enamelled band bearing the golden semi circular inscription "RÉPUBLIQUE FRANÇAISE" (''"FRENCH REPUBLIC"''). On the reverse, the gilt medallion bears the relief inscription on three lines "MÉRITE" "AGRICOLE" "1883" (''"AGRICULTURAL MERIT 1883"''), it is surrounded by a plain blue enamelled band. The officers' and commanders' badges also bear a gilt wreath, half vine and half olive branch, between the insignia and the ribbon suspension ring. The knight's insignia is made of silver, the officer's is made of silver-gilt, the commander's is made of silver-gilt or gold. The order hangs from a 37mm wide silk moiré green ribbon with 5mm amaranth vertical stripes located 1mm from the edges. The commander's insignia is worn on a

cravat Cravat, cravate or cravats may refer to: * Cravat (early), forerunner neckband of the modern necktie * Cravat, British name for what in American English is called an ascot tie * Cravat bandage, a triangular bandage * Cravat (horse) (1935–1954) ...

around the neck.

Notable recipients

Commanders

* Queen Anne, Queen Consort of Romania *

Gerrit Braks Gerardus Johannes Maria "Gerrit" Braks (23 May 1933 – 12 July 2017) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Catholic People's Party (KVP) and later the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and agronomist. Braks applied at the Wageningen Ag ...

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* Princess Caroline, Princess of Hanover *

King Charles III of the United Kingdom Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

* Jean Dupuy *

Jules Gravereaux Jules Léopold Gravereaux (; 1 May 1844 in Vitry-sur-Seine – 23 March 1916 in Paris) was a French rosarian. He was a top executive at the department store Le Bon Marché and in 1892 purchased land at the village of L'Haÿ about 8 km south ...

* Jean-Paul Huchon *

Christine Lagarde Christine Madeleine Odette Lagarde (; , ; born 1 January 1956) is a French politician and lawyer who has been the President of the European Central Bank since 2019. She previously served as the 11th Managing Director of the International Monetar ...

Stéphane Le Foll Stéphane Le Foll (; born 3 February 1960) is a French politician serving as Mayor of Le Mans since 2018. A member of the Socialist Party, he was Minister of Agriculture under President François Hollande from 2012 to 2017. Political career Me ...

René Renou René Bernard Renou (16 June 1952 – 19 June 2006) was president of the Institut National des Appellations d'Origine (INAO) at the time of his death and was "one of the most influential men in French winemaking.". Renou argued that France's ...

* W. E. Shewell-Cooper * Henri Stehlé * Marc Darbonne

Officers

*Gerard Bertholon *Christian Bind *Michel Durodie * Dominique Levy * Ernest Vaux * Luu Meng *

Pierre Galet Pierre Galet (28 January 1921 – 30 December 2019) was a French ampelographer and author who was an influential figure within ampelography in the 20th century and before DNA typing was widely introduced. Beginning in the 1950s, Pierre Galet intro ...

John C. H. Lee John Clifford Hodges Lee (1 August 1887 – 30 August 1958) was a career US Army engineer, who rose to the rank of lieutenant general (United States), lieutenant general and commanded the Communications Zone (ComZ) in the European Theater of Oper ...

* Will Studd *

Oz Clarke Robert Owen Clarke (born 1949), known as Oz Clarke, is a British wine writer, actor, television presenter and broadcaster. Early life Clarke's parents were a chest physician and a nursing sister. He is of Irish descent and was brought up Roma ...

Knights

* Philippe Adnot *

Yann Arthus-Bertrand Yann Arthus-Bertrand (; born 13 March 1946) is a French environmentalist, activist, journalist and photographer. He has also directed films about the impact of humans on the planet. He is especially well known for his book '' Earth from Above'' ...

Florian Bellanger Florian Bellanger (born 20 April 1968) is a French pastry chef, formerly the executive pastry chef at the famous Parisian pastry and candy shop, Fauchon. He is a permanent judge on the Food Network's competition series ''Cupcake Wars'', appea ...

* Wina Born * Laura Calder * Jacques Cariou *

Priyam Chatterjee Priyam Chatterjee (born 5 April 1988) is an Indian chef. He is the first Indian chef to be awarded France's Ordre du Merite Agricole. He is based in New Delhi. References {{DEFAULTSORT:Chatterjee, Priyam 1988 births Living people Indi ...

* Jean-Pierre Chessé *

Jacques Chirac Jacques René Chirac (, ; ; 29 November 193226 September 2019) was a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He was previously Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and 1986 to 1988, as well as Mayor of Pari ...

Elizabeth David Elizabeth David ( Gwynne, 26 December 1913 – 22 May 1992) was a British cookery writer. In the mid-20th century she strongly influenced the revitalisation of home cookery in her native country and beyond with articles and books about Europea ...

Vasily Dokuchaev Vasily Vasilyevich Dokuchaev (; 1 March 1846 – 8 November 1903) was a Russian geologist and geographer who is credited with laying the foundations of soil science. The Ukrainian city of Dokuchaievsk is named after him. Overview V ...

* Serge Dumont * Alice Feiring *

Patricia Gallagher Patricia Gastaud-Gallagher was a director at the Académie du Vin, and impetus, with Steven Spurrier, behind the 1976 Judgment of Paris wine tasting event and participated as one of its eleven judges. She was also on the Copia panel that overs ...

* Thomas Harvey Gill * Henry S. Graves *

Michel Guérard Michel Robert-Guérard (; 27 March 1933 – 19 August 2024), known as Michel Guérard, was a French chef, author, one of the founders of '' nouvelle cuisine'' and the inventor of '' cuisine minceur''. Early life and education Michel Guérard w ...

* Hermann Jaeger * Rita Jammet * Mariel Jean-Brunhes Delamarre *Paul Jules Jourcin * Richard Juhlin *Eugène Leguen de Lacroix * Patrick Levaye * Bernard Loiseau * Kermit Lynch * Debra Meiburg *Christian André Monchatre * Brian Morrissey * Thomas Volney Munson * Roland Passot *

Louis Pasteur Louis Pasteur (, ; 27 December 1822 – 28 September 1895) was a French chemist, pharmacist, and microbiologist renowned for his discoveries of the principles of vaccination, Fermentation, microbial fermentation, and pasteurization, the la ...

Jacques Pépin Jacques Pépin (; born December 18, 1935) is a French chef, author, culinary educator, television personality, and artist. After having been the personal chef of French President Charles de Gaulle, he moved to the US in 1959 and after working i ...

* Paul Prudhomme * Thierry Rautureau *

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* Wolfram Siebeck *

Lyle F. Watts Lyle F. Watts (November 18, 1890 – June 15, 1962) served as the seventh Chief of the United States Forest Service (USFS) of the Department of Agriculture, from January 1943 to June 1952. Early life and education Lyle Ford Watts was born on Nove ...

*Jean Wiener * Jon Winroth * Papa Abdoulaye Seck * Estelle Touzet * Shahrzad Shokouhivand * Chee Song KOH *

Suswono Suswono (born 20 April 1959) is an Indonesian politician from Tegal, Central Java. He was part of the Second United Indonesia Cabinet and served as Minister of Agriculture since 22 October 2009 until 20 October 2014. He previously served as Vic ...

Unknown rank

Jean Carmet Jean Carmet (; 25 April 1920 – 20 April 1994) was a French actor. Life and career Jean Carmet began working on stage and then in film in the early 1940s becoming a very popular comedic actor in his native country. He is best known internat ...

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* Roger Peyrefitte *

Charles Semblat Charles Henri Semblat (1897–1972) was a French jockey and racehorse trainer. Semblat was leading French jockey for more than twenty years before his riding career was ended by injury. He subsequently had an even more successful career as trainer ...

Michel Serrault Michel Serrault (24 January 1928 – 29 July 2007) was a French stage and film actor who appeared from 1954 until 2007 in more than 130 films. Life and career His first professional job was in a touring production in Germany of Molière's '' Les ...

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References

External links

Décret n°59-729 du 15 juin 1959 RELATIF A L'ORDRE DU MERITE AGRICOLE

* ttp://www.phaleristique.net Site and forum on military and civil French orders and medals *
Museum of the Legion of Honour
{{DEFAULTSORT:Order of Agricultural Merit Agriculture in France Awards established in 1883 Civil awards and decorations of France 1883 establishments in France Long service medals