Order of Agricultural Merit
| Order of Agricultural Merit | |
|---|---|
Commander of the Order of Agricultural Merit
|
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Awarded by  France Ministère de l'Agriculture |
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| Type |
Order of Merit with 3 degrees: Commandeur (commander) Officier (officer) Chevalier (knight) |
| Awarded for | Special distinction in services to agriculture |
| Status | Active |
| Statistics | |
| Established | 7 July 1883 |
| First awarded | 17 July 1883 |
| Distinct recipients |
~30,000 living |
| Precedence | |
| Next (higher) | Ordre des Palmes académiques |
| Next (lower) | Ordre du Mérite Maritime |
|
 Chevalier |
|
Commandeur
Officier
The Order of Agricultural Merit (French: Ordre du Mérite Agricole) is an order bestowed by the French Republic for outstanding contribution to agriculture. It was second in importance only to the Legion of honour within the French order of precedence when it was created.
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 most powerful impact on the entire national economy, farmers, agronomists, professors, researchers, labour was intensive and never ending, devotion was commonplace but the rewards were rare.
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