Order of Agricultural Merit
Order of Agricultural Merit | |
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![]() Officer's insignia (obverse and reverse) | |
Awarded by the Minister of Agriculture of the French Republic | |
Type | Order of merit |
Established | 7 July 1883 |
Awarded for | Special distinction in services to agriculture |
Status | Currently constituted |
President of the Order's council | Stéphane Travert, Minister of Agriculture |
Secretary of the Order's council | Coralie Bernard, Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Agriculture office |
Grades | Commander Officer Knight |
Statistics | |
First induction | 17 July 1883 |
Last induction | April 2017 (Charles, Prince of Wales) |
Total inductees | 30,000 (living) |
Precedence | |
Next (higher) | Order of Academic Palms |
Next (lower) | Order of Maritime Merit |
Related | National Order of Merit |
![]() Commander ![]() Officer ![]() Knight The three graded ribbon bars of the Order |
The Order of Agricultural Merit (French: Ordre du Mérite agricole) is an order of merit bestowed by the French Republic for outstanding contributions to agriculture. When it was created in 1883, it was second in importance only to the Legion of Honour within the French order of precedence.[1]
History
[edit]The order was established on 7 July 1883, based on the proposition of the then Minister of Agriculture Jules Méline, 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.[1]
The original 1883 decree created a single-grade order; only "Knights" (French: "chevaliers") were thus decorated. The decree of 18 June 1887 added the grade of "Officer" (French: "Officier"). A third grade, that of "Commander" (French: "Commandeur"), 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.[1]
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.[2]
Award statute
[edit]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.[1]
Award prerequisites are as follows:[3][4]
- 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.[5]
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.[3]
An award certificate always accompanies the order.[3]
Insignia
[edit]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 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.[1]
The officers' and commanders' badges also bear a gilt wreath, half vine and half olive branch, between the insignia and the ribbon suspension ring.[3]
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.[3]
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 around the neck.[1]
Knight | Officer | Commander |
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Notable recipients
[edit]![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/95/Richard_Samuel_-_Septembre_2012.jpg/150px-Richard_Samuel_-_Septembre_2012.jpg)
Commanders
[edit]- Queen Anne, Queen Consort of Romania[6]
- Gerrit Braks
- Albert II, Prince of Monaco
- Princess Caroline, Princess of Hanover[7]
- King Charles III of the United Kingdom
- Jean Dupuy
- Jules Gravereaux
- Jean-Paul Huchon
- Christine Lagarde
- Stéphane Le Foll
- René Renou
- Henri Stehlé
Officers
[edit]- Christian Bind
- Michel Durodie
- Dominique Levy[8]
- Ernest Vaux
- Luu Meng[9]
- Pierre Galet
- John C. H. Lee
- Will Studd
- Oz Clarke
Knights
[edit]- Philippe Adnot
- Yann Arthus-Bertrand
- Florian Bellanger
- Wina Born
- Laura Calder
- Priyam Chatterjee[10]
- Jean-Pierre Chessé
- Jacques Chirac
- Elizabeth David
- Vasily Dokuchaev
- Serge Dumont
- Alice Feiring
- Patricia Gallagher
- Thomas Harvey Gill
- Henry S. Graves
- Michel Guérard
- Hermann Jaeger[citation needed]
- Rita Jammet
- Paul Jules Jourcin
- Richard Juhlin
- Eugène Leguen de Lacroix
- Patrick Levaye
- Bernard Loiseau
- Kermit Lynch
- Christian André Monchatre
- Brian Morrissey
- Thomas Volney Munson
- Roland Passot
- Louis Pasteur
- Jacques Pépin
- Paul Prudhomme
- Thierry Rautureau
- Jean Rochefort
- Wolfram Siebeck[11]
- Lyle F. Watts
- Jean Wiener
- Jon Winroth
- Papa Abdoulaye Seck[12]
- Estelle Touzet
- Shahrzad Shokouhivand[13]
- Chee Song KOH
- Suswono[14]
Unknown rank
[edit]See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f "France Phaléristique web site" (in French). Marc Champenois. 1 January 2004. Retrieved 27 October 2013.
- ^ "Le Mérite agricole – Chiffres". Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 12 April 2011.
- ^ a b c d e Battini, Jean; Zaniewicki, Witold (2003). Guide pratique des décorations françaises actuelles. Paris: LAVAUZELLE. ISBN 2-7025-1030-2.
- ^ "Article 4 - Décret n°59-729 du 15 juin 1959 RELATIF a l'ORDRE DU MERITE AGRICOLE (COMPOSITION DE l'ORDRE CONTINGENT, NOMINATIONS, PROMOTIONS, DISCIPLINE, CONTROLE) - Légifrance". Legifrance.
- ^ "Article 5-1 - Décret n°59-729 du 15 juin 1959 RELATIF a l'ORDRE DU MERITE AGRICOLE (COMPOSITION DE l'ORDRE CONTINGENT, NOMINATIONS, PROMOTIONS, DISCIPLINE, CONTROLE) - Légifrance". Legifrance.
- ^ Queen Anne with her daughter Crown Princess Margareta and Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy at the gala for her investiture into the order held at the Palace of the Legion of Honour (wears the green order necklet on her neck, seen from behind)
- ^ "Prince's Palace of Monaco".
- ^ "French wine distributor in Taiwan honored by French government". Central News Agency. 13 March 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2010.
- ^ Becker, Stuart Alan (10 July 2012). "Madam Lim, Luu Meng honoured". The Phnom Penh Post. Retrieved 9 July 2021.
- ^ "Priyam Chatterjee becomes first Indian chef to receive French honour". Hindustan Times. 13 August 2019. Retrieved 20 December 2019.
- ^ Sommer, Theo (25 October 2003). "Laudatio auf Wolfram Siebeck zu seinem 75. Geburtstag". Die Zeit (in German).
- ^ "Papa AbdoulayeSECK (Ministre de l'Agriculture et de l'équipement rural) - Abidjan.net Qui est Qui". Abidjan.net. Archived from the original on 29 September 2020. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
- ^ "Shahrzad Shokouhivand, première cheffe pâtissière iranienne décorée à l'ordre du mérite agricole". La France en Iran (in French). Retrieved 2 April 2024.
- ^ "Remise des insignes de Chevalier dans l'Ordre du Mérite Agricole à trois personnalités indonésiennes". La France en Indonésie, au Timor oriental et auprès de l’ASEAN (in French). Archived from the original on 12 June 2023. Retrieved 12 June 2023.
External links
[edit]- Décret n°59-729 du 15 juin 1959 RELATIF A L'ORDRE DU MERITE AGRICOLE
- Ministère de l'Agriculture, Ordre du Mérite Agricole official website (in French)
- Site and forum on military and civil French orders and medals (in French)
- Charcosset, Gaëlle (October–November 2002). "La distinction aux champs. Les décorés du Mérite agricole (Rhône, 1883–1939)". Ruralia (in French) (10/11). ISSN 1280-374X. Retrieved 6 February 2009.
- Museum of the Legion of Honour(in French)